Don't Mess with the Rules
by lord Piggy
Summary: "My name is Roxas Strife. I rule this town. You'll follow the rules, or you'll pay the price." He made the rules of Twilight Town, everyone followed them, well, everyone except for Namine.
1. Silver

Yeah, I haven't updated any of my stories in a while. Sorry about that. I have a lot of vacations to go on, parties to go to, pools to swim in, movies to see. So I'm actually very busy. I'm actually a very busy girl! If I could, I would update everything weekly, but i can't. Yeah this is a new fanfiction, so? I told two of my fanfiction friends I'd dedicate a story to them. It's dedicated to **DomtheNobody **and **KingdomHeartsRox!** You guys are so awesome!

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Ground. The cold hard ground that I'm laying on, head throbbing with pain. The sun was glaring down upon me, and the orange-yellow ground of the sandlot with specs of blood on it. Sometimes the sun disappeared, as if a cloud had just passed by. But in reality it's only because my opponent moved in front of it.

Blood. The small crimson stream trickling down my face, somewhat cooling it off a little. The small stream eventually began mingling with the clear beads of sweat that covered my face.

Pain. Kicks expertly placed in my stomach bringing more sharp, stinging, pain. Pain that meant nothing to me.

I just layed there. I wasn't losing. I was drawing out his 'victory' then I would get up and defeat him. Despite my minds protest, I pushed the thoughts to stand up away from my mind. But eventually, they were loud and clear.

I must stand up, show that I am undefeatable. My world depends on it. I am strong, I am unstoppable, in this town, I'm a legend.

I am an idol to all of the other boys, someone people let control their lives because if they didn't, they wouldn't have a life. Some people even depend on me, but not for good things. I'm assosicated with drugs, violence, everything people would think of when they hear the work _'delinquent'._ That's right, I'm a delinquent. Some people say that I should just go behind bars. They say I'm more like a criminal than a juvenille delinquent. They all keep their mouths shut around people in charge, they know not to get me angry.

_How bad can this kid be?_ That's the question I heard from all of the new kids that came to this town. Their friends always gave the same long and detailed explanation. I don't have to time to say all of it, but I'll sum it up.

Have I killed someone? No.

Have I almost killed someone? Yes.

Do I do drugs? Whenever I can get my hands on them.

Do I sell drugs? Only when people ask nicely.

Are people afraid of me? Very.

Are you part of a gang? I'm the leader of the most feared gang in Twilight town, quite possibly the world.

Have you ever shot someone? I'm the leader of a gang, it would be a crime if I haven't.

That's why people steer clear of me. But they still treat me like a king. A very evil, powerful, scary, King. So basically, I rule this place. Even my parents bend to my will. I can never be dethroned. But that doesn't mean that they don't try. Only the bravest even try to challenge me. That's why I'm on the ground right now, Riku Gray challenged me, he wanted to rule this place, but we all know that that would never happen.

One more kick to the stomach and it's time to get up.

Pain.

My small feet clad in bright orange sneakers. My feet helping me stand on the ground, blood dripping off of my face and onto the ground, and some of my sweatshirt. The drops of blood were only adding to the assortment of colors on the ground. I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with as much air as I could. The slight narrowing of the eyes because of the sun. I pull back my arm, getting ready to punch him. My arm is like a spring, it bounces back. I release my arm letting it fly through the air, and it hit him right in the nose. He stumbled backwards a little bit, blood pouring out of his nose. He gingerly put his finger on his nose and winced slightly. He touched the blood, his hand getting soaked from the blood flying out of his nose, and looked at it.

He turned his attention to me, his eyes filled with a fiery anger that would make any normal person cower. Except, I'm not normal.

He threw angry punches at me, but he never even landed one. He tried to punched me in the face, but I reacted quick enough and moved to the right. He tried again, I moved to the left. Tried to punch me in the chest, and I did something totally amazing, something no one would have ever expected, I... moved to the side. His steam was dying down, this is the perfect time to attack.

Then it was like time slowed down.

The sun was beating down hard, shining off of Riku's long silver hair. He was moving forwards and backwards with his hands at the ready. His jaw was set, his eyes narrowed, lips white. I just stood there, flexible, ready to dodge anything he threw at me. But he didn't, well not immediatly. He started to bring his left leg back slightly, I watched him like a cat watches a mouse.

He kept bringing his foot back, faster and faster each second. But I just stood there, my blue orbs trained on his leg. He evetnually let his leg go flying towards me. Dodge or parry. If I dodge then he will just kick again, if I parry he'll go off balance, giving me a chance to attack.

When his foot was close enough to my face, I stuck my arm out, braced myself a little, and let his leg fly into my arm. It hurt a little bit, but I got the result I wanted. He went completely off balance, stumbling to the left. I brought my leg forward and kicked him in the chest. He fell backwards with his hair flying around his face, blood still flying.

He landed with a sickening thud, his head hit the ground twice, the second time was from the force making his head go up again. He didn't move, he didn't breath. Blood was trickling both from his nose, and his scalp. I walked over and kicked him in the side, checking for any signs of life. He only moved a little bit, but he was still alive. If you looked closely you could see his chest rise and fall. I turned towards the crowd and nodded.

Victory was mine.

They erupted in cheers and applaud. I ate it all up. The praise was all forced, I knew that. I could hear it in their voices as they screamed my name. They wanted Riku to win, someone else to rule Twilight Town, some one who wouldn't kill them. Well I have a message for them, _Too bad, bitches! _

_Why would they clap if they weren't happy about it?_ Because, everyone knows I like winning. Winning equals praise. Praise makes me happy. No one wants an unhappy me. So they clap, cheer, whistle, sometimes even cat call. I don't even care if it's fake, it feels so good.

I tunred back towards Riku and bent down, causing my black hood to fall over my bright blond hair. I didn't care, I still grinned like the Chesire cat.

"No one beats me." I whispered. It was quiet, but it still seemed to fill the whole Sandlot. I think the drugs I had before this fight, somehow, are affecting me now, because I think I just saw a small smile grace Riku's lips. I furrowed my eyebrows, the grin was wiped off my face, I took a step back in shock.

Riku did smile. It wasn't drugs, he was awake. Riku slowly got up, a bit unsteady, but awake all the same. He stood where he was, five feet away from me. He had the same smile on his lips, it made him look like he knew everything. His aqua eyes piercing my skin in a death glare. Blood trickle through his silver locks, leaving red streaks in them.

"Too bad, that's what I'm here to do." He said in a mock sad voice, like he was sad about what he was going to do.

I barely had time to register the fact that Riku wouldn't stop fighting until he won. Do you want to know why? He kicked me in the balls. I took a step backwards, my eyes flying open, a sharp gasp, hands flying to..._ my area._

_One...two...three. They're all here, okay._

I tried to straighten up, but the pain was somehow worse than being stabbed or thrown onto the ground. It was simply unbearable. A punch to the face, ouch, in the nose. I felt the warm blood erupt out of my nose, covering my whole upper lip. Punch the the gut, out of breath. Punch to the jaw, damn, bit my tongue.

There was no noise from the crowd, they were watching intently, hoping Riku might accidently break my neck or something. They were actually enjoying this. While Riku was relentlessly pounding me, I actually saw their smiles and excited whispers. I didn't care, they would be hurt later.

Riku punched me twice in the chest, causing me to fall onto the ground. He bent down and kept punching me in the chest. He laughed and began to sing the most dreaded song in the world at the top of his lungs.

"Roku, Roku, That's his name. The name of the little freak kid. No friends, no life, just some pathetic little fag. A tiny little specimen, that takes up the whole freak category. Roku, Roku, Roku, Roku. He tried to rape his brother, he must be a fag 'caus the only people he even talked to were girls, and they even started to gossip. Roku, Roku, what a pathetic, messed up, tiny little specimen that takes up the whole freak category." He finished his song and sighed. He had a dazed, thoughtful look on his face as he stared at the sky. He looked back at me with his piercing aqua eyes.

"Bring back some memories, huh, Roku?" He asked me. No one called me Roku in years, no one can call me Roku anymore. Only _he_ can call me that. But _he_ was gone, he left me alone with this horrible life I had to fix. Despit the fact I was the most feared, unemotional guy in Twilight Town, tears formed in my eyes. Not tears of pain, emotional tears. Riku noticed.

"Awwww, baby gonna cry?" He taunted in a fake baby voice. More memories surfaced and I couldn't hold the tears back any longer. They spilled down my face, I made no sound. My eyebrows were knit together, my lips pressed together hard. He laughed at me then stood up, facing the crowd of people. I sat up and kept my head low, this is going to suck some major ass.

"This is the most pathetic person! He's supposed to be all big and strong, but he's blubbering? He's not fit to run this place, he's just a pathetic, useless, messed-up, freak, called Roxas." People laughed, and Riku laughed. They all laughed. I closed my eyes, trying to make it go away, make past stop repeating itself.

_"Get back up Rox! He's making fun of you, he's putting you down. He's trying to make sure you're luaghed out of your postiton. So pull it together and remember what I said. Forget what they all say, you're better than them-" _A familiar voice in my mind started.

"-you can beat all of them." With my favorite words of wisdom, the tears stopped flowing, and the sadness was replaced with rage. Pure, white hot rage. I growled a little bit, but noone heard me, they were still laughing.

I got up and ran. I ran right at Riku and tackled him to the ground. I punched him in the face, spat at him, I did it all between shouts.

"No one...insults...me!...No one...laughs...at...me!" His face was caked in blood, he was limp, and I could tell that everyone's face was frozen in a cross between shock and terror.

The white hot adrehnaline was pulsing through my veins, the anger guided my muscles. I was unstoppable.

I picked Riku up somehow and threw him on the ground. He landed far away from me. He was laying in a pile of body and blood. I walked over to him. He was still stirring a little. I was angry, he wasn't knocked out. If I were one year older, I would be okay with killing him, but right now, I just settled for severly injured.

I took his good arm and grabbed his fore-arm and upper arm and pulled down with all the strength I had. His scream pierced my ears, it was carried all through Twilight Town, it made birds fly away. I threw his arm onto his body and stared at it. It was useless right now. All broken with the bone sticking out, it was sort of sickening, but I don't care.I spat on him again and stood up still looking at him, he was knocked unconscious because of the sudden pain. Good.

"No one can beat me." I said quietly. I turned towards the crowd and looked at them. They were just staring, petrified. Hayner May, Riku's best friend, ran out into the sand lot towards Riku. He checked his vitals then looked at me, his glare was genuine.

"You're going to pay for this, jackass!" he yelled venom in his voice. Though he lost points for having tears in his eyes.

"How many times have I heard that?" I asked. he didn't say anything but whipped out his cell phone. I kept staring at the crowd. Did they forget the rules I established? I narrowed my eyes tightening my hands into fists, it was sure to make them squeal. There was an applause, a small applause, but I made it louder by hissing. I did a quick scan to make sure everyone was clapping.

Olette:Yeah, but she's glaring at me. I flash a grin at her and she sticks out a tongue. I think I liked it better when she was on my side. Oh well, win some lose some. In this case I lost my only friends, but I felt better.

Kairi:Yeah, but she looks scared. She even refuses to look at me. Hmm, thought she would be all over me since I look just like her favorite eye candy.

That's when I saw her. The one who wasn't clapping. She had extremly light blond hair that was up in a ponytail, her bangs falling around her face. She had a white t shirt that said 'FEED MEH COOKY!' on it in black letters. She had blue short shorts on, and she was standng near the back of the crowd right next to Kairi. She had her arms folded, he facial expression was that of a rock.

Who was this chick? I know everybody in Twilight Town, they know all of the rules, they follow all of the rules. But she was new, she didn't know anything about Twilight Town. I grinned to myself and pulled up my black hood. I began to walk into the crowd, people quickly parted, but they kept clapping. _Why?_ Because it's the rules!

I kept my eyes focused on the mystery blond, and she kept glaring at me. I walked towards her and Kairi. Kairi stiffened, but the blond kept glaring. I smiled at Kairi. I knew she hated me now, but it's fun to pretend otherwise sometimes.

"Hey Kai! Haven't seen much of you," she didn't say anything. I chuckled, she tried so hard to pretend I wasn't real. Everyone did, I'm a nightmare. Then I turned towards the girl. She had her hands on her hips, and her jaw was set. I ruffled her hair best as I could since she had it up. I could practically see the smoke coming from her ears.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled. I smiled. She sounded determined. Determined to do what, break the rules and have me go insane again.

"You shouldn't yell at me. You do know who I am right? Roxas Strife. I rule this town. Every leader has rules. I have them posted on builletins everywhere, School, Station Heights, Tram Common, Sunset Terrace, Train Station. If you can't find them, have _our _friend Kairi tell you." I said. I walked away, but I heard the girl ask, "Our friend?"

I heard Kairi sigh.

"It's a long story, Namine. I'll tell you later when I'm sure Riku's okay, Hayner must be dying inside."

"He probably hates Roxas' guts," the blonde girl, Namine, said. How right she is.

"We all do Namine." I laughed, Kairi was absoloutely right. And I don't even care.

I heard the familiar blare of sirens and ran through the back alley. I ran quick as I can. I heard men begin to walk towards the back alley, probably Police officers looking for me. I thought they would've given up already. I duck into the tunnel with no other choice left. I ran through it, the colors whizzing past. Then I saw the small skateboard positioned on the wall. I picked it up and saw that it said Riku on it in white letters. Smiling I picked it up and began to ride it.

I made a turn to the certian passage that led to Sunset Terrace, where my house was. I zipped out of that tunnel and straight into my mom. She got up and rubbed her head. I almost felt bad, I just knocked my own mother down. What should I do?

Eh. That's what my dad is for.

I picked up my skateboard and ran into my house, which was a nifty ten feet away. I ran inside and brought the skateboard with me.

"Hi dad! Mom wants you outside. He sat up, silent and towering, walking outside of the house. I went into the little cupboard under the sink and took out the spray paint bottle I hid in there. I shook it and began to spray it onto the name Riku. The black spray paint covered it up almost instanly. I looked in the cupboard again looking for a different color, i don't even know if I have anymore, but it was worth a try.

I found a white in there and picked it up. I shook it and looked out the window. My father was helping mom to the house. I uncapped it and quickly wrote my name on the skateboard and put the spray paint back into the cupboard and slammed it shut just as my dad and mom walked in the door. I smiled quickly and ran upstairs with my brand new skateboard in hand. I placed it in my closet and looked out of my window. The ambulence should be coming in about three...two...one.

The sirens and flashing lights. It drove past my house and disappeared out of sight. I sat on my bed. It was Riku brought up. I got up and opened the drawer by my bed. I sifted though all of the syrings and produced a pack of cigarettes. I opened it and looked for a lighter. I seriously needed a smoke.

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So How was it? I got sloppy near the end, most people do. And I'm tired so. Well, here it was, the story that has been brewing in my mind for forever, R&R.


	2. XIV

_Sorry for the late update, I didn't realize how long I put this off. I think my writing style is showing a bit more. So yup, chapter two! I don't smoke either :P_

_I just finished the hunger games, Katniss sort of annoys me..._

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You know how people smoke when they're stressed? That's what I'm doing, minus the stress. The sun was bright and beginning to was shining in my eyes and I grimaced.

Looking at the sun setting I remember something. I took in a deep breath and the smoke traveled to my lungs. It burned a little, but I liked it. I breathed out and the smoke escaped my lips in billows.

I reached for my phone and turned it on. It was 5:45. I slip my phone into my pocket and take another deep breath. I put the pack of cigarettes and lighter into my pocket while turning around and walking out of my room. I could hear my mom and dad talking.

I honestly didn't give a crap about what it was about, probably about me and my behavior though, everyone talks about that.

And they probably wouldn't like to see me _new_ prized possession either. I paraded down the stairs, cigarette still in my mouth and walked past them. My mother got up a nd blocked the door. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes.

"Why is there blood on you?" she asked me pointing to pretty much my whole face. I moved my nose and lifted a finger to my face and felt around. Above my lips was covered in dried blood, I felt it, took my hand away and saw small flecks of red.

I turned my attention to my mom again and shrugged.

"Guess I punched myself in the face," I told her, shoving her to the side. I opened the door and a hand closed it. It was too large to be my mom's, so that left my dad. I groaned, why can't I just leave. I take a deep breath and let the smoke travel around my lungs. I puff it out and my parents cough.

I take the cigarette out of my mouth and see the ashes getting longer. Just to annoy them I tap it off in thre house.

"Roxas!" My dad yells. Weird, he almost never yell. Mom bent down to pick up the ashes out of the corner of my eye.

"Yes?" I ask. I just wanted to leave this house and go to the clock tower. I place the cigarette in my mouth again, only to have my dad takes the cigarette from my mouth. I protest loudly. _Did he seriously just take my cigarette? Out off all of the cigarettes in this world, he takes mine?_

"Give me your cigarettes." He said. I stared at him. Most people would do what their mom or dad says, but I'm not like most people. My parents do what I say, just like everyone else in this town. I made the rules around here, people did what I said, they don't make me do anything.

"No. Let me out." I glared at him. He kept his hand on the door. He put his other hand out and that's when I realized something. He wasn't going to move until he got my cigarettes, against the rules or not. If I hit him, my Mom will get my cigarettes, if I go out the window they'll run after me. If I don't go to the meeting I'll get booted out. Axel will definatley have cigs no contest. Just give him the cigarettes and you can leave.

I sigh and reach into my pocket. My fingers brush against the carboard and I lift it out of my pocket. I hesitate to part with my beloved cigarettes, but I'd do anything just to get out of here. I plae it in the palm of his waiting hand, and try to push the door open. It doesn't budge.

I turn to my dad again. He was supposed to let me out, I gave him the box!

"Let me out. _Now."_ He would move, I know he would. But I'm shocked, again. He puts his hand out again.

"You're not leaving this house until you give me your lighter." He wiggles his fingers, and I can't help but stare. He went against the rules, _twice. Two _times he didn't listen. The only other person who didn't listen was that blonde chick Namine. She's new, so I guess it's okay. But this is my dad, who's known the rules ever since they were made.

And he already took away my cigarettes, that could easily be fixed by taking one from Axel. But my lighter? Axel _never _let's anyone use his lighter, he's my best friend so I let him not share, but now I don't have a lighter.

My other friends, my group, my gang, they won't let me stay the leader if I'm late. I groan, and put my hand into my pocket. No matter how much I don't want to, I have to. I close my fingers around my lighter and slowly take it out of my pocket. I place it in the palm of his hand.

He takes the other hand off the door. I push it open and walk out of my house. I run right towards the underpasses. I don't even have to look at the signs that tell you which way leads you which, I've been through here enough to have it memorized. I ran up the stairs and took a left, and kept running straight until I reached the station.

There were some people walking around and talking, most of them wouldn't look at me, but I don't care. There were some little kids playing ball right on the stairs. Just because I'm all scary and mean doesn't mean I don't like to teach young people things.

When I reached the stairs they looked up at me and stopped throwing the ball back and forth. I smaked the ball out of their hands, but I don't think they noticed, they were standing rigid and not moving. Ha, I guess even the little kids know about me.

"Move it! Play there again and I swear-" I didn't even have to finish my scentence. They ran off without a word, they didn't even bother to get their ball. I walked over and picked it up. It was small and had tiny grooves in it with some pebbles stuck between them. It was red and looked a little deflated. Pshhh, I was going to keep it, but not if it's deflated. Trash deserves to go in the garbage.

Pretty much everyone was staring at me, they saw me knock the ball out of their hands and yell at them, and they saw me steal the ball. they watched me walk closer and closer to the doors, for a second I thought someone might actually say something, but they didn't. I pushed open the door to the station, throwing the ball into the air and catching it.

Right next to the door was a garbage and I was about to throw it in the trash when I saw two oh-so-familiar people standing at the counter. I laughed at my luck, we were right near the bulletin board, I can show her the rules. I walked up to them, and as if she could sense my presence Kairi turned around. She looked into my eyes for a second then looked away quickly.

Namine noticed how her friend was so quiet and turned around. She glared at me, and I just stared. She glared and I scowled. She crossed her arms.

"You. Do you know what you did to him? You almost killed him!" she screamed in my face. Kairi's eyes widened and she shifted feet. What a good friend she was, not even telling her friend what kind of trouble she would be in for yeling at me. But the man behind the counter actually _had _guts.

"Umm, M-miss. It's not very s-smart to yell at him." I don't know if he was stuttering because he was nervous, shy, or just plain old scared to talk around me. I don't know what Namine thought about it, but she seemed sort of angry. She whirled around to face him.

"Why not? Don't you think someone should yell at him for once! What can he do to make everyone scared of him?" Yup, she was steaming. But really, did she not see me fight Riku, break his arm without anything but my hands, and did Kairi not tell her about all of the things I've done?

"I'll answer that one for you. I have a whole list of reasons; I'm the leader of the biggest gang of twilight town. I've almost killed someone more than once. I've been to Juvie. I smoke. I steal. I have guns. I have knives. Oh, and I rule this town, I make the rules, people listen to the rules or they get hurt. In the end, Imma scary guy." I said shrugging. She glared at me and I swear, I could see steam coming off of her head.

"First off, it's _I'm a _scary guy, not _Imma _scary guy. Second, I don't see why anyone would be afraid of you. You're just pathetic Roxas, you know that right?" This girl's got spunk. I smile and put an arm around her shoulder. I lead her to the bulletin board and point out multiple copies of paper counting up to fifty.

"See those papers Namine? Yeah, those are the rules. Memorize those rules, and If you don't follow them, let's just say you won't be as pretty." I whisper. I smile and pat her shoulder. I slap the ball in her hands and walk off.

"There's a present for you. Some people might come looking for it, just say you got it from me and it'll all be okay." I doubt she'll keep it, it'll end up in the trash anyway. I jump off of the small ledge leading to the train tracks and walk towards the back wall. To the left, blending into the wall was a staircase.

It's a long staircase that leads to the top, right to the clock. That's where me and my gang meet everyday. I begin my long trek up the stairs when I hear footsteps echoing mine. Eh, it's probably someone from the gang.

I reach the top and see Axel sitting on the ledge with one leg up smoking a cigarette. His jeans are a dark blue, and he's wearing a green t-shirt with grafitti on it. Something you should expect from Axel. He hears me approach him and smiles. I smile back and walk over. I sit next to him and look at the setting sun.

Axel, like most of the other people in my gang, can actually tolerate my presence. He actually likes my presence, he's my best friend actually. One of the few people in Twilight Town that actually wants to hang out with me.

"So, Roxas. You're early." He told me. I snort.

"You were here before me. And there's like five minutes until the rest of them get here." Axel nods and stares at me for a second.

"You're not smoking. You always smoke!" I laughed, like he's one to talk. He usually doesn't smoke at the meetings, and he's nagging me about it.

"My Dad wouldn't let me come here if I didn't give him my cigs." Axel took out his box when I stopped him. "I had to give him my lighter too." Axel didn't comment at all. I knew he wouldn't let me use his lighter, it's a one of a kind lighter.

"Hmm. That was some fight Roxas. I never saw you so angry before. I haven't seen you cry since..." Axel trailed off. I knew who he meant. Before I got into gangs and stuff, things happened. Things that made me join Axel's gang.

"We all miss him. I wonder if he misses me. I doubt it, look what's happened to me, he'd never forgive me." I looked at my hands, I honestly don't like thinking about it. But somehow everytime I'm near Axel, we somehow end up talking about him.

Axel puts his hand on my shoulder and gives it a pat. I turn to look at him, only to find him staring at the sky.

"He would understand Roxas. How about we stop talking about this, maybe something more I don't know, gang related." I laughed, Axel never liked mushy emotional stuff. He liked talking about gore and fights. That's one of the reasons he's my best friend, he can make sad things funny somehow, and change the course of the conversation.

"Fine. Hear about the new person in town?" I asked him leaning back.

"No. Why?" He asked. I shrugged. I stared into the setting sun again.

"Just wondering. She's a blonde chick named Namine. She has it in for me." I laughed. "She even had the guts to yell at me, she even looks me in the eye." I mused. She's weird, she's not part of the gang, but she can look at me. What's up with her?

"Weird. She doesn't know what's in store for here if she keeps breaking the rules. No one breaks the rules. Well, I do, but it's because I'm allowed to. Comes with the title best friend." He turns and smiles at me. I smile back.

"Yup, she is pretty weird. But she is hot." Axels scoffs at that.

"You think every girl you see is hot." I laugh and nod. The laughter ends when I hear a small struggle coming from my left. I turn and raise an eyebrow when I see Luxord and Xaldin with a girl each. I see Namine and Kairi struggling in their arms. I laughs, but I'm actually ticked off. She actually followed me. I get up and walk towards namine.

Axel follows me and I point at her. Axel whistles and licks his lips.

"You were right Roxas, she is a fine piece of work." He says, staring at Namine. Namine makes a face and proceeds to hit Xaldin in the chest.

"What should I do with them Roxas?" Luxord asks. I think about it. If we drop them off the side of the building for spying, it'll be a double homicide. If we bring them back down-stairs they'll come back up. Hmmm, what to do what to do?

"Eh. Bring them back downstairs and make sure they don't come back up." Luxord nods and walked away with Xaldin following. The next people up were Demyx, Zexion, Saix, Larxene and Marluxia. Of course, Demyx has a bunch of water balloons, Zexion was absorbed in his book, Marluxia and his roses, Larxene and her never ending supply of knives. Zexion sits against the clock, not even looking up from the book. Larxene and Marluxia immediately went to talk by the end of the ledge. Demyx sat next to where Axel and I always sit.

Axel and I sit down and I immediately begin talking to Demyx. He's talking about how his aunt wouldn't stop nagging him about what he does. I laugh at his immitations and look over the edge. I see a familiar blonde and red head walking out of the station. I nudge Demyx.

"Hey Dem!" he turned to look at me. "Throw some water balloons at the blond and red head down there." He nods and drops two water balloons. We watch holding our breaths as they descend on Namine and Kairi.

And bingo. The hit them right on the head. i could hear their screams from here. Namine looks up and sees me laughing. She gives me the finger, and I give her one too.

That's how I like my life, friends with people who think like me, and have people who don't hate me.

The last members walked up, and Xemnas clears his throat.

"I know I'm not the one who recruits members anymore." He looks at me. I raise my eyebrows, what's going on. "But there's one person who stood out on the streets. Someone who could be of use to us." he moved to the side to reveal a girl in a black tank-top and jean shorts. Her hair was black and reached just under her chin, her eyes were blue like mine. She stared at me, and I stared at her.

"I've recruited a new member of our 'Organization'. Number XIV. Xion Amahara." That's when she smiled at me.

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Mhhmm, the gang is called the Organization, and it's like 358/2 days(which i finally found) how they introduced Xion.

No, I don't smoke :P


	3. Adidas

**Don't Mess with The Rules! Yes, I am updating this story, freakin' finally. AND NO, XION DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE FIRST CHAPTER. Yeah, I didn't know how to fill in the space from them laving to tower, to going to the tattoo shop, when I remembered the wonderful time skip. I hope you enjoy this ultra super special chapter:)))) Oh, and yeah, it's going to be sort of short.**

**ENJOY THE FILLER(ISH) CHAPTER! :)))))**

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Xion Amahara, the one Xemnas recruited. You have to admit that Xion is hot, no, she was hotter than hot. Her black hair reached just below her chin and in a way framed her face. Her blue eyes were bright, but had a pained look to them. Her skin was in complete contrast with her hair, but it worked for her. On her feet was a pair of black adidas with one stripe going across the side of each one. She could fight, so that was a bonus.

Getting back on track, Xion needs the tattoo, if she doesn't have it yet that is. I got up from the ledge and walked to Xion.

"Did you get the tattoo on your wrist yet?" There was silence. Xion, making the wrong choice, didn't answer my question. She, instead of following the rules, pulled her arm closer to her body, and held it close to her chest. I, even though I was beginning to be annoyed about how people don't care about the rules, smiled. I grabbed Xion's wrist, and squeezed it with all of my strength. She winced.

"My name is Roxas Strife. I rule this town. You'll follow my rules, or you'll pay the price," I paused. "Did you get the tattoo yet?" Xion shook her head feverently and tried to pull her arm away, but she failed. I let get of Xion's wrist. Xion backed away from me a little bit and looked in any direction except mine.

"Axel, call Rex, tell him we have a newbie." Axel whipped out his cell and dialed Rex. When he closed his cell I walked towards the stairs, loving when I heard the follow me. I don't know why I love being a leader, and having all of this power, I need it to live, it's like my drug.

...At the Tattoo Shop...

Xion was sitting in the chair with her eyes wide as saucers staring at the hulking figure of Rex, her eyes traveled down his huge arms full of colorful tattoos of women, and at his coffee stained white tanktop. If you looked at the back of his shaved head, you could see the reflection of her blue eyes. She was scared, I could tell because of the way she had her lips held. Rex looked back at me and smiled.

"It's been a while since you've been in here Roxas. The day you got your tattoo was memorable!" He let a guffaw out thinking about the day I got my own tattoo. The day I got my tattoo was amazing, it was purely delightful, and it ruined the respect anyone had for me. I love the day I became one of the Organization, I don't think I ever won't. The pain from getting that tattoo showed me how much pain I really could endure

I stepped outside of the tattoo shop hoping to get some time alone with the dreaded flashback I felt coming on. The door closed behind me, and I was glad to escape from the smell of ink and piss that inhabited Rex's Tattoo shop. The air outside was crisp and it was very windy, and it made my hair slap across my face. The wind didn't help me forget about the day I got the tattoo, it only made the feeling of a flashback worse.

_...Dreaded Flashback..._

_The brown haired male fell on the ground in a pile and was silent. I backed away from him, barely conscious of the faint sound of sirens signalling cops busting some other roughed up people fighting on the streets. My back hit the side of a grimy building just inside the entrance of the alley. The building fit in with the alley that smelled like dead fish. I slid down and sat on the ground, not careing at all if it was in a pile of garbage or not. I put my head in my hands and tried to catch my breath. _

_The feeling of having your lungs burn when you're tired is an unfamiliar feeling to me. I have never had my fists connect with people's faces before, the feeling is aline, but I like it. It's a strange feeling of power and dominance, I feel like I'm in charge for the first time ever, and that feeling makes me happy. Why is it that my happiness is unnatural in the eye of justice? Whenever I'm happy someone has to ruin it. Why does everyone ruin everything? _

_Someone, it sounded like a woman, walked by and she gasped. She ran towards the brown haired male and bent down next to him and checked his pulse.I looked throuhg my hands. She was a woman, a pretty looking woman, with brown hair in a pony tail, and in a tailored pink pencil skirt and suit jacket. She stared into my eyes for a second then looked at my blood stained and cut hands, and the blood on my shirt. She stood up and reached into her purse, I thought immediatley that she was going to bring out a gun, or pepper spray. I've been fighting long enough to know what to do in case of these situations, not in the most logical way but in the street fighter way. _

_I stood up and got my fists ready for a quick punch to the face if needed, but she didn't get a gun or pepper spray from her purse, she got a cell phone. Whenever someone pulls out a cell phone in a case like this, you know that they're going to call the cops. She quickly talked to them then closed her cell phone, placing it back into her purse. She put her hands into the air as if she wanted to make peace even though she just called the cops on me._

_"I'm going to help your friend, and you're not going to be in any trouble. Alright?" Even her voice sounded like buisness, it was short and somewhat shrill. Even though she was smiling at me, I knew she didn't mean it. She was making it obvious that she knew I knocked that guy out, she called the cops on me, it's just that obvious. From the way her hands are shaking and her lips are twitching, it's obvious, very, very, obvious. _

_The cops must have been close by, because the wail of sirens got loud fast, or they had fast cars. _

_"Psst, kid," A voice whispered from the shadows of the alley. I heard it coming from my right, and I turned my head to look in that direction In the shadows I could clearly make out a head of spiky red hair, and a small flame from a lighter or match. The person, who seemed tall, was holding the lighter to his face. He was smirking and mouthed, **come over here.** I looked once at the woman, her hand was inching towards her purse, she wouldn't let me out of her sight. So I did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at her head._

_While she was busy rubbing her head I ran towards the man with bright red hair. He ran deeper into the alley, holding his lighter in front of him using it as a way to light the way. I looked back at the woman who was sporting a red spot on her head, she was looking around the alley looking for me. Too bad she'll never find me. I looked back to where the man with red hair had run off to, I could just make out a faint light that was getting smaller. _

_With the last of my energy I sprinted as fast as I could t the light, trying to catch up to him. When I reached him, he had stopped running and was looking back into the alleyway. He looked at me for a second and held out his hand that wasn't holding the lighter. I stared at it for a second then back at him. He took my hand and laced it in his own. He gripped it tightly and shook it._

_"That's how you shake hands," He dropped my hand. "I'm Axel." I've heard of Axel, everyone who has heard of street fighting has heard of him. Axel Flynn, dropped out of school in the tenth grade, ran away from his home in Radiant Garden and came here to live a life of fighting. People have said that he commited his first rape in this alley, and that he shot a cop who tried to bring him in._

_"The things they said about me aren't true you know. Everything except dropping out of school and running away that is, that's 100% true." I looked down at the wet ground, I felt a little bit bad, believing the things that they said about Axel. _

_"Don't beat yourself up, Roxas." My head straightened up and I stared at him hard._

_"How do you know my name?" I glared at him and clenched my fists. Axel was lying! A creep like him sure as hell raped someone! Axel laughed and put his hands in the air._

_"Everyone knows your name. You're Roxas, the guy whose brother died. Roxas, the guy who hates everyone, Roxas, the guy who fights on the streets. Get over it Roxas, people have known who you are ever since he died." People can't keep their mouths shut can they? All they can do is talk, talk, talk. They don't even care if all of their yapping is hurting someone, or if the person they're yapping about it hurting. The silence was awkward, but Axel quickly broke it._

_"I've watched you fight for a long time, Roxas. You're good, and my gang needs good. __They want you to join the gang." Without any form of consent he grabbed me wrist iron tight and ran down the alley. The end of the alley was dimly lit and had a few shops lined up, one was a tattoo shop. Axel dragged me into the tattoo shop and dropped my wrist, then stood in front of the door. There was a scary looking man sitting by a those chairs that you see in dentist offices, it was an ugly salmon color and it had brown stains on it. He turned around and smiled at me, I had the horror of seeing missing teeth and multiple tattoos and piercings covering his face._

_"You must be unlucky XIII." I don't know what he was talking about, I don't think I want to know what he was talking about, I would probably freak out if I knew. Then three people grabbed my arms and pushed me to the chair, they held my arms. I tried to kick them but I only succeeded in knocking over a lamp. Axel held down both of my legs and he smiled at me. The hulking man held down my wrist and dipped the needle in black ink before pressing it down to my wrist._

_The pain was extreme._

_...End Dreaded Flashback..._

I looked at my wrist and the dark black tattoo that said XIII. That was the day I became known in the system and the cops wanted me dead, I think of that day as the day I was reborn.

Axel walked out of the shop and leaned against the side of the building with me.

"Xion passed out, we'll have to wait." I didn't aknowledge him. I didn't want to, I was still busy thinking.

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**WOOOOOOT! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER!**


	4. Black Eye

**OKIE DOKIE! This is Don't Mess With the Rules! Aweshome right?**

**If anyone here likes their lemons, feel free to look at the requested one shot lemon I made. It's called Monster.**

**Sorry for making generally short chapters. I'm one to rush ;O**

**ENJOY! :)**

**GET READY FOR SOME COLORFUL LANGUAGE! ROXY GETS PISSY THINKING ABOUT RIKU, SOOO:D**

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It took an hour for Xion to wake up, even then she was still a little bit out of it. It was only about, 6:30 and we hadn't even decided what kind of fights we were going to get in to. Xion was sitting next to me, not saying anything at all. She was looking at her wrist inspecting her new tattoo. XIV was obvious on her light skin. She rubbed her hand over the raised skin, still incredulous to the fact it was real, and that this was really happenning.

"Xion, you have any cigs?" I asked her. She looked at me and nodded. She turned away and continued inspecting her tattoo. I sighed and held out my hand.

"Well can I have one?" She dug around in her pocket and fished out a box of cigs that was almost empty. With that she also produced a cheap red lighter. She dumped them in my hand and I feverently dug a cigarette out of the small box. I placed it in my mouth and lit it. I handed the lighter and box back to her. I took a long drag, thankful for the smoke burning inside my lungs. I looked at her and took the cigarette out of my mouth.

"Thanks," I told her. She looked at me with a look in her eye that almost suggested that she was surprised. I mean, who wouldn't be surprised? Roxas Strife saying thank you? Yeah, that just doesn't happen. Unless there's a pretty girl involved. She swallowd and looked down for a moment. When she looked up she was smiling.

"Your welcome, Roxas,"Was her reply. Her voice wasn't as soft as I thought it would be, it was the voice of a fighter. I liked that voice on a girl. I tried to smile back, but I just couldn't. It came out as a sneer.

"That's close enough to a smile,"She said while laughing. I took another drag out of the cigarette and puffed it out into the air. It stood out the quickly darkening sky. I looked back at Larxene who was admiring her knives.

"Hey Larx, you know of any good gang fights?" I asked her. She put her knife down and looked into the sky for a moment. When she looked back she seemed disappointed.

"No, everyone is too much of a pussy to want to challenge us," She replied, sadistic smile turning to her face. That was true, we stopped getting gang fight challenges to see who becomes top dog. Sissies, they shouldn't even be in a gang if they're afraid of getting into some fights.

"Damn, it's been awhile since we fought anyone good. Roxas probably scared them away with what he did today," Axel said while playing with his lighter. Today, I beat somebody up, same old, same old. It's one of those fights were you either kill someone or almost kil someone. I've been in those fights many times, it wasn't anything I was shy to go into. I did it all the time actually. This time though, I lost the grace I had with fighting. I didn't give a shit that I nearly killed the guy(he deserved it, asshole), I'm more worried about how I lost that finess and how that shit head humiliated me and made me lose that finess with fighting. I was rough and uncontrollable. That's not a bad thing, I never said I didn't like it, but I'd rather have it seem skillful than bruteful.

"What did Roxas do?" Xion asked Axel. I looked at her. She either just moved here or she had been doing something and hadn't heard the news. Axel laughed and put away his lighter and looked at Xion just like how I was doing. He scoffed and took another drag out of his cig. He looked at Xion before turning back to the ever darkening sky.

"Where have you been Xion? Well, you must have heard all about Roxas. He's the head of the most feared gang in Twilight Town, he's pretty much the ruler of Twilight Town actually. With his rules and all. You see, some people just don't like Roxas and his rules-"I stopped him to add my own little bit to the story.

"Actually, everyone who isn't in my gang hates my guts. I just want to clarify that fact," I said. Xion looked at me almost with pity, but she laughed anyway. Axel coughed and grimaced.

"Yeah, okay, pretty much no one likes Roxas. Jeez, hound on the guy trying to make you look better, GOD!" He waved his hands around sarcastically. I laughed with Axel and Xion. True, everyone hated me, but I don't care. That's how it's supposed to be. To lead a town, people have to fear you, that's the only way they'll follow you at all. I like it that way. I'm the superior one, and the rest of the world is inferior.

"Anyway, because people don't like the way they run things, they try to fight him. Haha, trust me, he isn't the type of person you want to fight, ever. Today he fought someone tough. Riku Gray. Well, at first Roxas got him down, but the tides turned and lets just say that some things were said that set Roxas off. Roxas has this sort of style that he fights in, if you saw him you'd swear that it was choregraphed. Roxas got you know, a little insane after what was said. He literally beat him to a pulp. I couldn't recognize the guy's face by the time he was done. I bet he won't be able to use his arm either. Let's just say this, never piss Roxas off," He finished his story with a puff of smoke in my face(which I didn't mind that much). Xion looked at the ground so many feet below us for a long time before she said anything.

"What kind of things pisses you off, Roxas?" She said. I don't care what I tell her about what pisses me off.

"Let's see, people breaking the rules I made is at the top of the list. Talking back to me, and being an annoying little shit." I told her. She nodded and turned towards me again.

"No, I mean what kind of things piss you off enough to do that someone," She looked sincere. I'm not going to tell her anything. She doesn't have to know anything about _him_. I couldn't help but glare at her.

"None of your fucking business," I can't help but be pissed. I always get into a pissy mood when people talk about him, or even say something that could link back to him. Xion shrank back and drew her shoulders into herself, losing anything social about herself almost immedietely. She looked back at her hands that she was fiddling with.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," She mumbled. I looked back at the setting sun. I don't know why I get angry thinking about him. Wait, I do.

"You better be," Axel punched me in the arm, not entierely joking.

"Come on Rox, give her a break. She's a newbie,"He leaned around me to look at Xion. He smiled apologetically.

"Don't worry about it Xion. It's a touchy subject, it took him forever to tell me about it. You'll know in a year or two," He said that last bit with a small laugh. She giggled but didn't look at me. As for me-I stared into the pink sky trying to cool down. As much as I hate to admit, Axel was at least a little bit right. I'd never tell him that though.

The next few hours passed uneventfully and quietly-for me that is. It was already completely dark out, it was time for the gangs to go and fight. Or you could always fight solo, like what I'm doing. I didn't want to go home, I don't like spending too much time there, it's boring and it still seems like he lives there. I usually go hang out with Axel at his house or something. Today I wanted to get some one on one fights. I haven't had a fight that was one of those ladi-da carefree types in a week. I need my fill on that.

At this time of night the shops are closed, but there are still neon lights lighting up the nighs from other shops. Tram Common is the perfect place to fight someone. Some men like to tell someone before they attack someone, I'm the type who just likes to jump them without warning.

Not a lot of people were roaming about the streets of Tram Common tonight. They must have know that I'd be prowling. I did find someone though. I have no idea who he is, but a fight is a fight. I followed after him for a minute or two. He didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular. As soon as he stopped for a second to tie his shoe, I jumped.

The first thing to do, kick him in the head. He fell to the ground with a yelp of surprise. His arms flailed around him and he looked up. He growled when he saw my face. I grimaced at him.

"You."

The next thing he did was get up and swing at me twice. He easily dodged them, he was slow and lumbering. I punched him once in the jaw and kicked him in the stomache and let him fall to the ground. He put his hands over his eyes and groaned. He never stood a chance. I towered over him, trying hard to not laugh at the little fight he put up.

That's when for the second time today, my bits and pieces were attacked, both times with a foot. The air rushed out of my lungs and I doubled over grabbing my boys. He brought his knee to my face and I felt warm blood trickle from my nose once again. I stubled back a few fight, trying not to cry out from the throbbing pain in my pants. He punched me in the stomache more times than I could count and blood began to trickle from in between my teeth. He kicked me in my shins mutliple times, and once in the ankles. They throbbed, but I ignored it.

When he was coming back to punch me again I ran my head into his stomache. I straightened out and kicked him shins. He fell to his knees where I kicked him in the face. He fell backwards blood pouring out of his nose. He held his nose and tried to kick my from where I was, but I easily side stepped. I went beside him and kicked him as many times as I dare. He rolled over on his side and clutched his stomache. He kicked him two more times before stopping. I only then realized that I was panting. I walked away from the scene limping from the attacks made on my leg.

I still didn't want to go home, and I didn't want Axel to worry about me, so i made it to the one place I know no one would expect me to be. The secret spot that I used to share with my few friends.

By the time I arrived my legs were about ready to collaspe under me, and I felt light headed. I knew I was losing blood, but I would never consent to go to the hospital. my head pounded. I admit that it hurt like hell.

I made my way over to the tattered red couch and collapsed onto it facefirst. It took my last bits of strength to turn myself over so I was lying on my back. I groaned from the motion, my tense mucles screaming for me to stop. I fell asleep instantaneously.

The next morning I felt like crap. I could feel the itchiness of the dried blood covering nearly the whole bottom half of my face. I wanted to reach my hand yp and brush the red flaks away, I began to, too, but the slight movement cause my arms to go on fire, or at least seem to. They continued to burn even though I wasn't using them, just having my arms hurt like being hit in the balls, except this time with fire. I sat up groaning, blech I wanted to cut my arms off so bad. That's when I noticed two fine looking young ladies sitting not too far away on a wooden crate probably full of dust. Kairi and Namine.

"So you finally woke up, Princess?" Namine asked mockingly. I was too sore to even think about yelling at her.

"Yeah," Was my only response as I used an enormous amount of effort to stand up from the couch, trying my best to ignore the pain and ask them a question.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked. Kairi either noticed my change of attitude for the time being or got a pep-talk from Namine, because she answered me, she even looked me in the eye.

"I was giving Namine a tour of the town. What are _you_ doing in _here?"_ She asked back. She had crossed her arms in a haughty fashion that made me laugh. The laugh was over quickly due to the soreness of my lungs.

"This used to be my place too you know," I replied. I was a tad bit annoyed that she would forget something as simple as that. She always was an air-head who could never get the facts straight. Kairi pointed to a wooden board that was painted white.

"If you didn't notice, we crossed your name off of the board." I looked at the board and read the names on it.

Kairi Itachi

Olette Wantanabe

Pence Nomura

Under those names was a big black blob where my name used to be written. I grunted. Not that I cared-much. Namine smirked.

"Are you hurting inside? You must be hurting on the outside, you look like a pile of shit!" She said while laughing at her own joke-not cool. I smiled, no, I grimaced.

"Don't worry, I beat him up just for you," I hobbled over to her and picked up a lock of her hair, leaning in closely."Sweetie," I whispered huskily. Her facial expression became one of disgust. She slapped my hand away and pushed me from her(I tried to hide the wince). She glared death at me.

"You're pathetic Roxas! You're a no good piece of shit! You go around bullying people, make them follow these stupid rules, and you beat them up! You're a fucking monster!" She screamed in my face. She's so bold, it's endearing, for a horse's ass that is. I smiled at her, I smiled sweetly like she wasn't even affecting me(which she wasn't).

"You know you love me," Were my last words before walking out of the secret place. Thankfully, there were no people in the alley to see my injuries. I made my way to the underpasses because they were the fastest way home. I walked sickeningly slow, hobbling along the cold stone of the underpasses. Every five minutes or so I would have to stop and sit down with my head resting on my knees to catch my breath. Eventually I saw the sun again, but it was in a different spot in the sky. A trip that would normally take me 10 minutes took me 30 minutes.

I walked to the front of my cheery home covered with the flowers my mother planted when there were still four of us. The door was a bright red, I don't know why those red. Maybe because it matched my mother's eyes? I graspd the doorknob and turned it, pushing it open. I was greeted by the very stern face of a very worried mother.

"Where were you?" My mother asked me. I shrugged. I honestly didn't want to tell her or she'd break nearly every rule and punish me. Even I, the bad boy of Twilight Town, did not want to face the wrath of a mother who learned that her son ditched sleeping in bed to sleep on a dingy couch in a dusty little room full of mice. She didn't buy my 'I don't know' shrug, but she moved on to other things.

"What happened to your face?" She said reaching out and touching it tenderly. I let her, she is my mother and she is worris, it's a right that only they have. I winced slightly as her hand brushed against the left side of my face, near my eye. I grabbed her head and gently and held it tight. I looked her in the eyes and willed her not to worry.

"It's okay Mom, it's not the worst," I told her softly. She frowned and aqueezed my hand before letting go. I limped past my father who grunted to acknowledge my presence. My father, he got a little pissy after what happened to their other son, and what I got into. Mom was always more understanding anway.

I was somehow able to make it all the way up the stairs without falling and breaking my neck. I ventured into my room and grabbed the towel off of the chair by the desk I neglected, and some clean clothes from my bed. I left my room and half walked half fell into the bathroom. I started the tub, turning the heat up all the way. I stripped my body and examined the damage from the night before in the mirror. I had a black eye on my right eye, bruises covered my jawline. My nose was red and swolled with dried and flaky blood surrounding it. Above my lips, my lips, and a strip of my chin was covered in blood. There were two thin streaks of red from my nose and mouth that traveled down the left side of my face. My arms were covered in a mosaic of bruises, as were my legs. The only are un colored by blood or bruises was bits and pieces.

I turned off the water in the tub and slid in. The water was like heaven for my muscles, and I welcomed the searing feeling with open arms. My muscles un tensd, and I bgan to relax in the tub. It closed my eyes and just enjoyed peace, real peace, like nothing could go wrong in the world. I've never actually had a peaceful life. At least one aspect of my lives, old roxas or new roxas, there was something violent in it.

I got out eventually when I thought my skin was pruned enough and drained the tub. I put on the clothes I had grabbed; sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt. I planned on relaxing for most of the day. Of course, I would tense up near sunset. I fell onto my bed and stared out the window that was above the head of the bed. It looked pretty actually. So there I stayed, relaxing in bed until I had to become violent and tense again.

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** I honestly don't care if I have spelling mistakes. I'm tired and I'm proud for staying up late to type this jsut for you guys. Review!**

**I tried to show how even the most uptight bastards like to relax in jammies from time to time. :D**

**I hope you liked it!**


	5. Best Friend Punches

**OKAY! So it's time for the next chapter of Don't Mess with the Rules!**

**Last chapter I showed you how being seriously hurt can affect Roxas. So he acts nicer to his MOM and enjoys relaxing. **

**And I just wanted to add, I never said what pairing this Fic would be about, did I?**

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I was rudely awakened by the ring of my cell phone. I groaned and reached out to grab it off of the nightstand. I ignored the pain in my arms to the best of my ability. I slid it open and clicked the talk button.

"Roxas?" A voice on the other end said. Axel.

"Yeah?" I asked with a yawn. I rolled over onto my side so I was facing the wall of my room.

"Where are you?" e asked almost angrily. Why would he be angry?

"In my bed, why, where are you?" He scoffed and repeated what I said to someone else.

"I'm at the meeting," He said, his voice metallic. _Shit._I ended the conversation and immediately jumped out of bed, no longer feeling pain. I threw off my sweats and threw on a random pair of jeans. I grabbed the sweatshirt from where I had left it and slipped it on. I pocketed my cell phone and ran down the stairs. My Mom and Dad were sitting at the table in deep conversation. Only my mother looked up when I came rushing down.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" She said to me. I answered while putting on my shoes.

"I'm late!" I yelled before scrambling out the door. I ran like Hell. That's all I can say about my journey there. I didn't feel the burning in my arms and legs, I didn't feel the throbbing from my bruises, and I definitely didn't feel the air struggling to get through my nose. The only thing I felt was anger for myself for letting myself sleep in, I was angry at myself for relaxing. Just look at what relaxing did to me!

I had gone through the underpasses and when I reached the Train Station, there were many people walking around. I didn't know why at first, but then I realized that there was going to be a festival at Destiny Islands, and that this was the only way to get there. I looked up and the Tower and I saw feet hanging from the ledges. I made myself run, but I could still see people's eyes trained on my injuries.

Inside of the Train Station the intensity of the light shocked me. It was a major change from outside and I took a few seconds to stop running to blink my eyes, attempting to adjust my visions. Since I decided to stop running, my adrenaline seemed to stop and the pains came back. I groaned and had to resort to limping across the station. Every eye was on my limp and my black eye, and I was starting to get pissed. I made it to the train tracks, and I heard a train off in the distance. I decided to take a chance, and I hop down onto the tracks, and slowly make my way over to the other side. The tracks started to rumble, and I knew a train was coming.

I placed my arms on the floor and pull myself up, or at least I try to. Due to the temporary weakness in my arms, it's nearly impossible to lift myself up. The rumbling got more intense, and it got very loud. I looked to the side and I saw a train in the distance, though I knew it would be here any second. The whistle on the train blew, telling me that I better move or I'd be killed. I let go and let myself fall to the floor. I stood up quickly, and hobbled as fast as I could to the stairs about five feet away from where I was. I made it up the steps just as the train rolled to a stop.

I hobbled to the stairs and make the painful ascension up the stairs. By the time I made it up the top, I was ready to keel over. Axel was the first one to see me. At first, he looked pissed, then he looked like any other best friend would look if their best friend showed up beaten and bruised and just about ready to fall and never get up. He quickly walked over to me and placed an arm around my shoulder and kept me steady while he led me to the wall of the Clock Tower and sat me down against it. He sat down next to me, and the other members of the Organization gathered around me to look at the worst I've looked, ever. Yes, that means I lied to my mom this morning, but it was for her own good. Axel placed a hand on my face, turning it from side to side, inspecting it. He touched my shin and I hissed at him. He stopped.

"Rox, what happened?" He asked me. I shrugged, not really in the mood to admit that I had gotten into a fight without the others, since I knew all too well how much they were craving a fight. Axel scoffed and looked at the others.

"Can you believe this guy? He expects us to believe that load of crap! Really, Roxas, who did this to you?" I wasn't going to tell him that I jumped a random guy in Tram Common and got my ass kicked for the first five minutes. I didn't know who the guy was, so I technically wasn't lying when I told him that I didn't know who it was that did this to my face.

"I told you, I don't know!" I said back forcefully. Axel made this noise of disbelief and rubbed his eyes.

"Roxas, who did this to-" I stopped him mid sentence. I told him the first person to think of, even though it was a complete lie.

"Namine did it. She jumped me while I was going back to my house after the meeting. She kicked and punched, and she's stronger than she looks. I don't like hitting girls, so I just pushed her off of me instead and ran away," I lied. I don't think he'll believe me, and I don't think the others will either.

"I should've guessed!" He bought it. I couldn't believe it. Xion stepped up to Axel and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned his attention away from me to look at Xion, he had this weird look in his eye.

"Um, I know this is a stupid question, but, who's Namine?" She asked him. Axel chuckled and put on a winning smile.

"She's just this new chick who has a special hatred for Roxas, and she's not afraid to show it," He informed her. She looked at me with wide eyes, her lips in a perfect 'O'.

"What are we gonna do about it?" Zexion asked. Everyone had ideas.

"We can kill her," Larxene suggested. That took five minutes for me to shoot down.

"How about we pelt her with water balloons?" Demyx asked holding up his biggest balloon. Axel tended to that idea before I could open my mouth.

"Maybe another time Dem," He said as nice as he could considering he was fuming. Demyx lowered his water balloon and had a beaten look on his face.

"Why don't we just give her a light beating," Xemnas suggested. That was an offer no could refuse. We were only just out of the train station (It took ten minutes due to my injuries) when we realized that none of us knew where Namine was. We decided to split into 6 groups, 5 of them have 2 people, and 1 of them have 3. I was in a group of two, and my partner was Xion. Xion and I had to look around the under passes.

"Xion, where did you live before you came here?" I said. She looked around a corner before asking.

"Destiny Islands," I think I know where that is, but I can't quite remember. Xion noticed my confusion.

"It's the place with the star shaped fruit," She tells me with a laugh. Now I remember where I had heard it. I heard it from my brother. He told me that he always wanted to go there, and that he wanted to eat one with Kairi. He would have never told Kairi that though.

"Was it nice?" I ask her. She nods and stops walking. She closes her eyes, and I guess that she's imagining her home. A smiled played at her lips and she took in a deep breath.

"It was like Heaven. It always smelled like the ocean and strawberries, and it was always warm. You could go to the beach everyday if you wanted, or you could take a boat to your own private island. The ocean was my favorite though. It was such a deep blue, I could stare at it for hours and never get tired of it. The waves were never too big or too small, and the temperature was always just right," Her voice sounded far off, like she was visiting her true home.

"Do you miss it?" She opened her big blue eyes and I begin to look at her different. She just wasn't any different girl that I thought was hot, but she was beautiful. I'd never admit to that though.

"Yeah, I want to go back and swim in the ocean," She tells me in a voice full of certainty.

"So you must hate it here. We have no ocean, and its cold," She shakes her head. Now, I'm surprised.

"I love Destiny Islands because of the environment, but I love Twilight Town because of its people," She says. I have a feeling she was talking about me. I take a step closer to her.

"What is there to love about the people here? We're bad people Xion," I warn her. She is holding her hands behind her back, and she moved and inch closer.

"Maybe I'm a bad person too," She says back. I inch closer, taking note of the lack of space between us, and I couldn't feel the fire in my arms and legs that I now call normal. I smile at her.

"Who's you favorite person here?" Xion inched closer. Our lips were only an inch apart, and the space between us buzzed.

"A guy names Roxas, who's nicer than he has everyone believe," I smile at her and give a small laugh.

"Well he must be a lucky guy."

The small space between our lips was gone within seconds. Xion leaned against me, but she took extra care to not press up too much against my face or my arms. The kiss was sweet, but short because Xion's cell phone rang. She broke away and dug in her pocket for her cell phone. When she got it out she tapped the talk button and pressed it to her ear. She nodded and hung up.

"Did they find her?" I asked. Xion shook her head and gestured to an exit.

"No. That was my mom. I have to go to the dentist and get my brother. Tell the other where I am," She instructed. I nodded and she ran away. The buzz I had been feeling slowly faded away, and I started to feel the aches again. Then my cell phone rang. I pressed the talk button.

"Where is she?" I asked, fully aware that this was most likely someone from the Organization.

"The sandlot," The voice on the other end said. I hung up the phone and made my way to the Sandlot via the underpasses. When I arrived, I found that I was the last one to arrive. I could see that Namine was cornered by the rest of the Organization. Axel saw me, ran over, and pulled me over in front of everyone else. When she saw me her lip curled in distaste. Axel held my face and I winced. He shoved it in Namine's face.

"Look at what you did to him!" Namine was about to argue that she didn't do anything when Axel spoke again.

"Don't say anything!" He pointed to a bench and said, "Sit over there Roxas."

I took his arm off of my shoulder and slowly made my way to the bench, and I sat down. Axel turned back to Namine and grabbed her shirt, pulling her closer to him.

"You're going to pay bitch," He said. Axel brought his fist back, Namine cringed into herself. During those few seconds, time slowed down. Something bubbled up inside of me, and I didn't want her to get punched in the face for something she didn't do. I think I'm being nicer because I'm still happy about Xion.

"NO!" I shouted. I got up and ran to Namine as fast as I was able. Axel reacted too late, and let his arm fly. I was only just in front of her when his fist made contact with my face. My cheek turned the other way, and he had hit where my bruise was. It hurt a lot, and I stumbled into Namine. I pushed her far behind me. Axel ran to me, but I pushed him away. I knew that I shouldn't be angry at him, that it was my own fault, but I had been putting the blame on other people for such a long time, that I couldn't help but blame him for my running in front of her.

"Go away," I tell him while rubbing my face. He tried to come to me again.

"Roxas-," I cut him off for the second time today by pushing him as hard as I could to the ground of the sandlot.

"I said get he fuck away!" He stared at me, bewildered. He got up and wiped the dust from his clothes. He walked away, taking the others with him. I slumped to the floor and rubbed my face. The pain was nearly unbearable, and to my horror tears started welling up in my eyes. I wiped them away before they could fall to the ground. Namine sat next to me, and held her legs with her arms.

"Thanks," She says to me. I shrug and wipe my eyes again.

"Are you okay?" I was shocked at how nice she was being to me.

"Yeah," She scoffed and stood up taking me with her.

"Yeah, I don't believe that. Come on, you're coming to my house so I can give you some ice," She said. She took my wrist and led me away. I was touched by how nice she was being, but I will never tell her I said that. While I was also touched, I thought about where it placed us. Were we friends, or does she just want to punch me in private?

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**I hope you liked that chapter! I know it was shortish and not that interesting, but still, I hope you liked it!**

**And tell me what you think, I'll be glad to hear!**


	6. Friends?

**HEY! So it's time for the next chapter of: Don't Mess with the Rules.**

**And I'm only wondering, and you don't have to answer this question, but I'm a particularly unknown in the Kingdom Hearts fandom, right?**

**Sooo, recap time!**

**Roxas lied to Axel when he said that Namine was the person who beat him up. The Organization decided to beat her up for making a mess out of their leader. Roxas paired with Xion, and while they were walking through the under passes, he realizes that he has a crush on Xion. They kiss, and Xion has to leave to help her mother. He gets a call and makes his way to the Sandlot where his gang is gathered around Namine. Right before Axel can punch Namine in the face, Roxas goes to her aid (oh what a sweetie he is), and gets punched in the face! :OOO (fake surprise). To be nice, Namine forces him to go to her house so she can tend to his swelling cheek.**

**That's where we left off! Tell me? Is that honestly something you expected from Nami? Ehh, I only expected it b/c I wrote it! Well, sort of expected it, it was spur of the moment thing! Haha.**

**ENJOY!**

**A 200 words A/N! Jeez lord Piggy, cut it out!**

**I'm not making Roxas as bad ass in this chapter as he should be. Idk why, I don't think any person would be bad ass in a situation like this.**

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Namine lived in my part of town, not even five minutes from my own house. Namine's house was a good one, you have to admit that. Her house lived closer to Sunset Hill than my own, and it was styled to let the sun in. There was a wall in the kitchen that bent out from the rest of the house, and it was made completely of glass. The appliances in her kitchen were stainless steel, and there was an island in the middle of the kitchen with a to made out of marble. That's where I was sitting with Namine.

She pressed the ice pack against my face. I place my own hand against it, and she lowered hers. She didn't say anything for a long time. I stared at her. I was right when I said that she was a fine piece of work. Her nose was like a button, and her lips were almost as light as her skin. She had long eyelashes, and her eyebrows came to a point. Her honey colored hair was up in a pony tail and she too was studying something.

"Why'd you do it?" She asked me. I was taken off guard at first, and then I was confused. I don't like being confused, and being confused makes me angry. I don't want to show her how angry being confused is, I didn't want to have her screaming at me like she usually is.

"Do what?" I ask. She looked at me.

"Jump in front of me. Why?" She asked yet again. I didn't know what to say exactly, so I went for the expected answer.

"I didn't want to see a pretty face like yours be messed up," I said. She scoffed.

"I should believe that to be true from a sleaze like you, but I don't. Know really, why did you do it?" She asked me. I looked away. I don't want to see her face when I pretty much admit to blaming her for messing up my face.

"Because I know you didn't do it," I say back. She sighs, then laughs.

"Let me get this straight. You told them that I beat you up? They actually believed that I, a weak girl, was able to beat up you, Roxas Strife, the person who can kill someone just by punching them in the right place?" She asks. I laugh. She had thought the same way I did when it came to that.

"I didn't think they would either! They're not the brightest people in the world, if you haven't noticed." She nods and starts tapping her hands on the marble.

"What do you say?" She asks after a minute of silence. I look at her again and see a smirk playing at her lips.

"What?" I say, once again getting confused, and slightly angry. She rolls her eyes.

"What do you say to me, idiot. It rhymes with I'm Farry." Oh. I haven't said I'm sorry in years, and I don't plan on having the first time since I was 14 be today. I take the ice pack off and cross my arms.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I say to her. Namine jumps off of the stool and walks over to the fancy knives. She takes out the biggest knife and points it at me. I wasn't at all worried, I could out run her any day, and besides. I could see the smile that she was trying to hide.

"Oh, I have a feeling that you do. And you're not leaving this house until you tell me those words." I laugh at how ridiculous she looks. She was like a baby lifting weights; the two just don't go together.

"I haven't said those words in a long time, and I don't think today is the day I'm going to either." She rolls her eyes and puts the knife back into the holder. She walks back to the island and sits on the stool. She puts the ice pack on my face again.

"So you haven't said sorry in how long exactly?" She asked for me to elaborate. I take the ice pack out of her hands again.

"Three years," I say. Three years ago was a tough time for me, it was around the time I got into gangs. It was also around the time _he _died. He meaning my brother and confidant.

"You haven't said sorry to anyone for three years? There's more than enough times you could have said sorry!" She yelled. This time though, she didn't seem angry, only annoyed or maybe even surprised.

"Well, rule number thirty-two states that I will never have to say sorry for anything that I've done!" I say. Namine shakes her head.

"Screw the rules! Say your sorry for almost getting me punched in the face, damn it!" She pounds her fist on the table. I laugh, finding her unbelievably funny when she got angry/ annoyed.

"I'm sorry! There, are you happy?" She nods.

20 minutes later I'm seated on one of the grey couches in her beautiful living room, with her sitting on a couch that was a couple of feet away from the one I was on. The room had a large coffee table made of glass. There were many beautiful paintings decorating the walls.

"Do you parents have some kind of high paying job or something? This is a nice house, it must have cost a fortune," I say to her. She shrugs and looks at the painting of a small girl huddling in a dark corner.

"My father is an artist and my mother was an author," She replied.

"He's very good," I say to her. She nods.

"I'll tell him that you said that."

"Why did you say that your Mom was an author? Did she stop writing or something?" I ask her. Namine shook her head and rubbed her arms while looking away.

"No, she died. She died last year actually," She says. I nod, and notice the similarities between us, even though they're miniscule.

"I see we have something in common. My brother died three years ago," I say. Namine looks at me.

"Were you close?" She asked to me.

"As close as could be. Were you close with your mom?" Namine shook her head.

"No, she was a bitch," She laughed. "She was always off in Imagination Land, and those rare times she wasn't, damn, she was mean," She laughs. I don't laugh. I could see that even though she tried to hide it, she was dying inside just thinking about losing her mom.

"If it makes you feel any better, if you need anyone to talk to you, I'm right here," I say to her. She smiles at me, and I smile back at her. Tears are pooling up in the bottoms of her eyes.

"Thanks. Tell me about your brother," She requests. Thinking about him is painful, but I do it anyway.

"He was the nicest person you could imagine. He was a year older than I was, and he had a lot going for him. He was friends with everyone, even the people that bullied me. Yeah, if you can imagine it, I was bullied until three years ago. Anyway, when my brother was 12 he was diagnosed with cancer. My brother was doing well, and had chemo therapy. Three years later it still hadn't gone. Well, in short, he died from the cancer. I just went wild after that. I ended up here." I finished my story with a sigh.

"What was his name?" She asks me. I don't hesitate to tell her.

"Sora. What about you Mom?" I ask. Namine shrugged.

"She was Nanette Sato. She wrote exactly twenty-four novels, twelve of which were part of a series. She was always dreaming something up, and she described it as being in a place full of imagination. Mom was always big about etiquette. I guess you noticed how I'm not the most mannered person, but she always yelled at me to be lady like, to not say curse words, stupid things like that. She was in a car accident. My Dad was driving the car. They were visiting family in England and I was left home. A car swerved off the other side of the road and took out the whole side of the car. My Dad was fine, but my Mom, well, they had barely any body to work with," She finished her story quickly. I took a deep breath. All this talk about death, and dying family members, yeah, I don't like it. I changed the subject.

"Let's not talk about this, let's talk about something happier, like, TV or something. Namine laughs and grabs the remote from the coffee table. She turns on the TV and brings up the guide.

"Anything in particular?" She asks. I shake my head, and she puts on the first TV show she sees.

I leave at about midnight, and I'm just about ready to keel over. Namine walks me to the door of her house, and I yawn.

"You keep an eye on those injuries, okay?" She asks in that sing song voice of hers. I lean against the door and try my best to keep my eyes wide open, which I failed at.

"Sir yes Sir!" I say as loudly as I could. She laughed and clipped me upside the head.

"It's Ma'am!" She corrected me. I nodded and rubbed my eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" I ask her. She nods.

"Friends?" I ask her. She looks me over and begins pushing me out of her house. She slowly closes the door, and when it's almost completely closed that she answers.

"We'll see."

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**So! I hope you like reading that! And I'm sorry that it was extremely boring and uneventful. Pretty much all that happened was a brief showing of Sora and Nanette, Roxas saying sorry for the first time in years, and some description. I know, I hate it too.**

**So, a question to answer in a review. I'm a pretty unknown KH author right? So are YOU an unknown, known, or don't even write stories? What would you do if you were Known (i.e. bask in glory?) or Unknown (i.e. campaign for yourself continually?). I'd like to know!**

**I HOPE YOU L O V E D THIS CHAPTER!**


	7. Best Friends Brawl

**Okay, I know that I've been updating on a regular basis for quite some time now. I honestly hoped that you LOVED the last chapter.**

**LARGE RECAP TIME!: Last chappie, Nami brought Rox back to her house after he jumped in front of her to ensure that Axel wouldn't punch her and getting punched in turn. Nami was being a lot nicer, and she asked him some questions where Rox acted like a useless sleaze by saying he did it to save her pretty face. Nami didn't believe that and made him say sorry for almost getting her punched in the face. They begin to see eye to eye. Namine and Rox begin talking while watching TV and they notice some similarities between the two of them. Roxas leaves her house at midnight, but not before asking if they're now friends. Banube responded with a, "We'll see."**

**And this chapter starts the next day! :D Please be aware that I will most likely start a lot of chapters off with the Organization Meetings. **

**ENJOY!**

**And I hope you're happy, our favorite badass Roxas is going to be his main persona for this chapter.**

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I swung my legs in the open air. I wasn't tired much from the late night I had spent at Namine's, but I felt happier. It must be because of Xion. Speaking of Xion, I was sitting close to her and she was playing with my fingers with her own. We made sure that none of the other members could see us, of course, I didn't need anyone teasing me and getting a broken wrist because of it. I could feel Axel's eyes against my back. I turned to him and saw that he was indeed looking at me. I patted the space next to me. Axel understood and made his way over, plopping down on the spot.

"I'm sorry Rox-" I cut him off.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have said that about Namine," I say to him. Axel furrows his eyebrows.

"That she beat you up?" He asks. I nod.

"Why shouldn't you have said it?" He says. Even an idiot would have figured it out by now. I snorted at his stupidity.

"I lied about it! I said that Namine beat me up, and it was a complete lie. I don't know who it actually was, I just jumped this random guy," I say. Axel didn't say anything, and neither did anyone else. At first that is.

"You got into a fight without us? You knew that we hadn't had one for weeks! Why would you do that?" Axel yells. I start fuming.

"I'm sorry that I felt deprived!" I yell back at him. Axel stands up and so do I. He's glaring freely at me, and I know that I shouldn't have said anything about jumping some random dude. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Deprived? You're not deprived! You had a fight with Riku the same fucking day! You won that fight, and you got to have fun doing it! What did the rest of us do? We sat by watching! We weren't able to do anything! Stop being so fucking self centerd all the time you prat!" He screamed into my face. I was the deprived one? I glared at Axel. I hate him so fucking much right now. A fiery anger consumed me.

"Shut the hell up Axel! You have no idea what you're talking about! I was in need of a fight just as much as you, so I'd shut up before something bad happens!" I barked. Axel sneered and leaned close. His emerald green eyes seemed like flickering embers; waiting to ignite.

"Like what?" He asked tauntingly. I growled at him and out my hands on his shoulders and gripped them as hard as I dared. I swung him to the left. His eyes widened and he screamed loud. His arms flailed and he looked as helpless as any baby would. He flew off the side of the tower and began to fall. His hair swung around his head, beginning to flap in the wind. I watched his form grown smaller and smaller, until it became a small speck of red on the gravel. A wave of happiness swept over me.

That's what I wish I did. This is what really happened.

I growled and breathed rapidly, trying to keep my cool. It was no use. The anger within me exploded. I swung my left arm and my fist connected with his jaw. Axel was taken by surprise and crashed to the ground. He sat up and rubbed his jaw. I could see that his eyes were no longer like embers, but they were a blaze. He stood up and stalked towards me. He didn't punch me, but grabbed onto my shirt instead. The other members stood there. I could see them make room. They were expecting the same thing as me.

"You are a fucking asshole Roxas, I hope you know that," He says. I don't give a damn what Axel thinks about me. I'm only thinking about how pissed I am at him for not understanding. Axel brought his other fist to my gut and my breath left me quickly. Whatever aches I had from the injuries I got before are now nothing. I growl at him. I pry his hand off of my shirt and push him. He ends up against the clock of the tower. I advance quickly.

Before I can punch him again he kicks me in the stomach. I fall on my butt. I sit and plan my next move while Axel is slowly making his way towards me. As soon as he was close enough I swung a leg in a sweeping motion. Axel's feet were taken out from under him. He fell backwards and landed on his back. Not wasting a second I stood up and quickly walked over to him. I kicked him. I took my leg back and let it fly foward as many times as I wish. Axel wasn't given any chance to attack.

I moved my foot away from his stomach and moved my foot to his face. I was only able to kick him twice in the face before he raised his arm and punched my stomach as hard as I could. I stopped kicking him. Axel stood up I could see his anger flaring to new extremes. Axel came at me. There was blood pouring from his nose, and it was dribbling out from between his clenched teeth. Dark bruises were beginning to line his hairline, and his left eye was beginning to swell.

Axel grabbed a hole of my shirt and began to pressure me to the edge of the tower. This is the only time I've ever been scared. My pulse became erratic and it felt like I just swallowed a horse and it got lodged in my throat. Axel changed the position of his hands to around my neck and began squeezing. Then my feet was hanigng in the air. I tried to scream, but Axel's hands were preventing from anything passing through.

I thrashed about and tried not to shit myself from this new found terror. I scratched at his hands that were beginning to shake me. I punched at his hands, I did anything, but they wouldn't disappear. Other faces began to appear and some pulled at Axel. Larxene was shouting at Axel so loud I thought me ear drums would shatter. Xemnas and Saix each grabbed a hold of an arm of mine each. The rest of the members concentrated on pulling Axel off of me. Finally his figure disappeared from my vision and I was allowed to breath again.

Xemnas and Saix pulled me back over the edge and I crashed face first to the gorund. I have never been so thankful to land on the ground as now. I took deep breaths, feeling my throat expand. My throat hurt a lot and I was pissed. I was pissed at Axel for nearly throwing killing me by strangling me while simotaneously dangling me off the edge of a very high building. I looked at Axel who was trying to calm down. He was still glaring at me.

"Bastard," I said before walking away. I desended the steps and I heard foot stepts echoing mine. I hope it's Xion. I walk out of the station and I slump down on the steps. I rubbed my aching neck. I know there'll be bruises from the places his fingers had been squeezing my neck. Another form sat next to me. A small warm hand slipped into my own. Xion. Xion leaned against me.

"Are you okay?" She asked me. I snorted. What would a person say in a situation like this?

"No," I say simple. Xion nodded, like she had been asked the question. Xion placed an arm around my shoulders and drew me in even closer. I turned to her and saw that her large blue eyes were trained on me. Xion slowly leaned forward and pressed her lips to my own for the second time. Only this time there wasn't any sort of shyness. As soon as she kissed me, I wanted more. I placed my hands on her elbows and pulled her in closer. Xion's hand began to travel upwards and knotted itself in my hair.

_RING!_

Xion pulled away and frowned. She dug her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at it. She frowned more and scrolled down. She turned off her cell phone and slid it into her pocket again.

"I have to go again. I have to get my brother from Tram Common," She said while pointing off into the distance. I nodded. Xion pressed her lips to mine quickly before darting off. I sighed and began to feel the anger that Xion had dulled. I had one other persont that I could confide in. I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed her number.

...At Namine's...

Namine poured the water into a tall and elegant glass before seating herself on the stool next to me. She took a sip of water. She looked at me from the corner of her eye.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asks. I rub my neck and I see her eyes dart to the dark bruises encircling my neck. Her eyes widened and her fingers reach out to touch them. I let her.

"What happend?" She half asked half screeched. She didn't wait for an answer and went to the freezer to retrieve the ice pack. She gives it to mee and presses it to my neck. I take it from her and begin my story.

"Well, we had a meetig today. At first it was like any other meeting. We talked about fights and thenest\\ we did whatever the hell we wanted. This time though, Axel wasn't talking to me like he usually would. Anyway, Axel came and said sorry to me. I told him not to sweat it. Being the nice guy I am I told him the truth about how I got these injuries," I gesture to my face.

"He got really angry at each other and started yelling. He told me all about how I was an asshole. I dreamed about throwing him off the tower, but being the best friend I am, I didn't. Instead I punched him. We started brawling, full out. It was okay at first. But then he started strangling me. He drangled me over the edge of the tower for Christ's sake! He almost killed me!" I finish my story by slamming my fists on the table. Namine was looking at me.

"He's a douche," She says as if it were nothing. I smile, then I start laughing. Namine smiled and took another sip of water.

"Bastard."

"Asshole."

"Asswipe."

"Jack ass."

"Ass hammer," Namine says.

"What?" I asks. Namine looks at me as if I'm an infant.

"It's a hammer in your ass, duh!" We spent the rest of the night talking about ass hammers. I laughed more than I could count on both hands. My thoughts kept branching off to Xion though, and how she always had to leave at the worst moments. I think that Xion and Namine would have been good friends. Namine had not stopped at walking me out of her house, but she walked all the way to my own house.

Namine and I stood there akwardly, realizing how much this was like an actual date. I was just about to go inside when Namine said something.

"We're friends now."

"What?" I ask her. She smiles.

"I said we're friends now. You're nicer than you have everyone believe," She says. I smile at that.

"I wish," I say back. Namine sticks out her hand. I reach out and shake it.

"I'm being serious Roxas," She says. Then Namine walks away without any other words.

I'm left standing outside of my door marveling at how I wa able to make the girl who hated me the most be my friend.

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**I hope you loved it! And yes, their relationship is progressing fastly, that goes for both namine and Xion.**

**Review if you'd like, there is a large review button right down thar you know.**


	8. Three Realizations

**Hey, so it's Don't Mess with the Rules. I know Nami-Chan's and Roxy's relationship seems to have become perfect, but fret not, not all friendships are left unblemished by fights. ;O**

**Anyways, this chapter is a month after the last one. **

**Last chapter Axel and Roxas fought with each other. It ended with Rox being dangled off of the tower by his neck. He was comforted by Xion, then went to Namine's to talk about what happened with Axel. Then Namine says that she now considers the two of them friends.**

**So here we are!**

**ENJOY!I'M SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER TO UPDATE! I was banned from my laptop and I had a whole day out today. So, I'm sorry.**

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Many things happened in the past month. My life became as close to perfect as it could be. Xion and I started going farther and farther with each other, Namine and I grew ever closer, and Axel and I once again told each other everything. Axel and I didn't talk about what happened last month, and I don't plan on saying anything at all. I'm going to keep it like that. At the moment I was sitting with Xion on the tower with Axel on the other side of me. I held Xion's hand.

"Larxene, are there any gangs we could fight with? It's been a while," I say. Larxene looks away from her cell phone and shrugs. Demyx throws another water balloon at a random passer by and looks at me with a giant smile on his face. He points to the ground.

"Look at that! It was awesome!" I look just so Demyx doesn't cry. What I see makes me turn and glare at Demyx. Demyx had chosen to throw a water balloon at a friend of mine. It was a certain friend prone to bouts of anger. A friend with blonde hair and blue eyes. Namine has to be so pissed. She'll cuss me into the ground. I look back to see Namine storm into the station. I groan and pray that Namine won't rip my balls of. I take my hand from Xion's and rub my head, already hearing Namine's scream in my mind. Barely thirty seconds later I could hear feet slamming on the metal rungs of the stairs.

I heard her stomp on the stone floor of the tower. I turned at saw her glaring at me. Of course, she thought I did it. Just fantastic. Namine's face was a bright red, her pale blonde hair two shades darker from the water, and her top was completely soaked.

"What the _fuck _Roxas? Why the fuck would you do that?" She screams. I shake my head.

"I didn't throw the balloon," I say without raising my voice. Namine laughs bitterly.

"This is coming from the guy who has thrown a water balloon at me before now!" She says while shaking her arms. I didn't say anything, I just couldn't find anything to say.

"See, you did throw it! You didn't deny it! I knew it!" She shouted while pointing at me. I was about to say something when Xion stood up.

"He didn't do anything," She said. Xion didn't yell, she kept her voice even and strong. Namine turned her hard blue eyes to Xion. Namine's eyebrow's furrowed in confusion.

"Who the fuck are you?" She asks. Xion puts her hands on her hips and raises her chin, looking proud.

"I'm Xion. I'm Roxas' girlfriend," She says with what I can only identify as pride. Namine looks at me, than at Xion, a smile growing on her face.

"Oh, I see. So _you're _the bimbo Roxas was talking about," She says with a devious smile playing at her features. My mouth falls to the floor. I never said that Xion was a bimbo, and I don't plan on it any time soon. Namine lied, and she lied to my girlfriend. What a bitch. Xion looks surprised and looks from Namine to me. I shake my head, unable to speak. I never thought Namine would be the kind of person to lie about something like this. Xion glares at her.

"You're a bitch, do you know that? I know that he would never ever say that about me! You're a lying little whore! Stop trying to get Roxas to leave me! I'm tired of you always wanting him to hang out with you, I know what you want. You're just trying to get with him, I know you are," Xion said with conviction. I was dumb founded, as was Namine. Namine stood with her mouth open, not moving or saying anything, I don't even think she was breathing. She regained her voice. Namine clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. I could tell that she was seething.

"Do you honestly think that's how it is? Do you really think I would want someone's boyfriend? I'm not a fucking whore!" Namine says back to her, the only sentence that suggested that Namine was pissed off was when she denied being a whore, which I support. Namine is definately _not _a whore, from what I've seen anyway. Xion nodded.

"Yes, you are. Why else would you be hanging off of his arm every minute? How come you always interrupt our time together so he can go hang out with you? Why? It's because you want him, I know you do. It's that obvious," I pursed my lips, not having any idea what to say. Namine glared at her, I could see her tough girl act beginning to crumble.

"The real question is, why does he keep coming?" She said, Namine turned around and stomped off. Xion hmphed and turned to me. Her angry look disolved and a triumphant smile was plastered onto her features. The stomps of Namine's feet on the steps replayed in mind over and over again. I realized that I wanted to go to Namine, and tell her not to be angy and that Xion doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'whore'. Xion sat down and put her hand into mine again. I took my hand away from hers. I stood up and began to leave. Xion grabbed onto my sleeve.

"Where are you going Roxas?" She asks me. Her voice was innocent like a child's, as if she had not been calling Namine a whore earlier. I look at her.

"To Namine," I say back to her. Xion's hand lets go of my arm and she looks away, with an angry look on her face. I walked away from her and closer to wherever Namine was.

Five minutes later, I was outside of Station and Namine was nowhere to be found. I flipped out my cell phone and dialed a number that I had gotten very used to. She picked up on the third ring. She sniffed and cleared her throat.

"What do you want?" Her voice showed no sign of being distraught, it was steely actually.

"Where are you?" I ask her.

"Why do you want to know?" She answers with a question. It seemed like Namine, always suspicious.

"I want to talk to you," I say back to her. Namine doesn't say anything, and I can see her biting her lip wondering what to do about it. She sighed.

"I'm at the sand lot," She says. I nod, fully aware that she can't see me.

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes," I say to her.

"'kay," She says before haning up. I slide the phone back into my pocket. It's time for the sand lot.

...A Few Minutes Later...

I arrive and see Namine sitting on a bench. She was sitting on a bench with her head bent low and her hands on her lap. I walk up to her and place my hand on her shoulder. Namine looks up abruptly and smiles at my presence. I smile back at her and sat next to her on the bench. Namine doesn't say anything for a while.

"Where's Xion?" She asks. Namine looks at me and I look back at her.

"Back at the tower," I say. Namine nods and looks away again.

"Why didn't you stay with her?" She asks me. I laugh.

"I can't leave you like this, can I?" I ask. Namine chuckles and looks back at me with a smile on her face.

"I guess it's because of how ubelieveably gorgeous I am, right?" She asks. I smile and laugh. I pick up a piece of hair.

"It must be the hair," I say. Namine slowly stops laughing, she keeps smiling though. I stare into her eyes. Namine's eyes were a light blue, and they seemed so airy. They had this feeling of imagination and endless fields where you could stop and rest for a while. It's like you can get lost in there, and you'd never want to leave them. It feels like home. The smile is slowly wiped off my face when I realized three things. 1)I have feelings for Namine. 2) I'm technically cheating on Xion. 3)I still liked Xion.

"A penny for your thoughts," Namine said, without even bothering to say it like a question. I swallow.

"I just came to term with three things," I say. Namine nods.

"And those things are?" She asks. I don't hesitate, I'm not known for hesitation.

"I have feelings for a certain Namine Sato. I'm techincally cheating on Xion. I-" My words trailed off. Namine was scooting closer to me, never breaking eye contact. Her face was mere inches from my own, and my breath caught. I felt heat flooding my cheats from the proximity. Namine smiled at me, almost teasingly.

"And I have feelings for a certain Roxas Strife," She says. Then she closes the gap between us. My eyes flutter closed and I place my arm on her elbow. I bring her closer, liking the feeling of flying that kissing her gave me. It felt so right, yet it was so wrong. I pulled away from her, and helf her at arms length away. Namine's eyebrows were scrunched together.

"Is something wrong?" She asks me.

"Xion," I reply. Namine frowns and turns away from me.

"Fuck Xion," Namine says back to me.

"Namine, she's my girlfriend!" I try my best to refrain from yelling. Namine turns back to me with an angry look in her eyes.

"I don't care if she's your girlfriend! I'm the one you should be with!" She yells back at me. I shake my head.

"I still have feelings for her, Namine," I said.

"How can you? You know there's something off about her."

"Like what?" I ask her. Namine scoffs.

"Haven't you always wondered why she has to disappear? Why she suddenly appears and no one knows who her folks are?" She asks me. I hate to admit it, but Namine had a point. I wasn't going to let her know that.

"She-" I start. Namine cuts me off.

"Save it Roxas. We all know that something is wrong with her. If I were you, I'd find out what," She says. Namine stands up and walks away from me. I sit there, thinking about how right Namine is, about everything.

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**I hope you loved this! I loved typing this, and I want to hear what you think!**

**Any problems with it? Let me know! There may or may not be a fight between two people of unknown identities.**


	9. Come With Me?

**Heya, so it's time for Don't Mess with the Rules! Last chapter Namine and Xion got into a fight. Roxas went off to find Namine and he found that he has feelings for both Namine and Xion. Namine and Roxas kiss, but he tells her to stop because he doesn't want to cheat on Xion. A pissed off Namine raised a good point: Where does Xion always go when she leaves? And: Why hasn't he met her family? Roxas admits that she's right, but he doesnt tell Namine that, to his great relief. **

**And that's where I left off! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**P.S. I am now in LOVE with Xion. And I no longer hate Kairi. Oh Kingdom Hearts~**

**SORRY, NO DICK ROXAS. :(**

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**Namine wouldn't pick up her phone, and I didn't feel like calling Xion at the moment. I sighed and flopped my head on the table next to my bed. Along with feeling like a total idiot for telling Namine to come I felt like a freak. I mean, I didn't want to go out and punch some random guy. That right there, yeah, that's not normal. Not normal for me anyways. I groan loudly, as if that alone will bring back the 'normal' in me.

There's small knocks on the door and my head snaps up at the noise. I purse my lips, contemplating whether or not to allow whoever was knocking to come in. It's proabably just my Mom anyways.

"Go away," I say. I sit back on my bed and crawl over to the window. I look out of it and waste no time thinking about myself punching some random guy. The person who had knocked didn't leave.

"It's Xion," The voice says. I draw away from the window as fast as I could. Xion! I wasn't exactly expecting her to come by any time soon due to how I chose to follow after Namine. I get up and quickly make my way to the door. I grasp the knob, turning it and flinging it open as fast as I could. Xion was standing there in a dark blue tank top and black skin tight knee shorts. Her glossy black hair was pulled back in a tiny ponytail though (which didn't look that bad). Perhaps the most surprising thing was the giant smile plastered onto her features. Just seeing her smile made me smile back. I moved aside and let Xion into my room.

She waltzed over to my bed and sat down in one movement. I followed suit. I turned to see Xion looking at me, something I had never seen before in her eyes. It was almost those looks you'd expect from theives, or some villian in movies. I guess I must have that same glint. Though when I saw it I thought about what Namine had said, the thing about something being off with Xion. I pushed the thought away.

"I'm sorry Roxas," She said. I crinkled my brow. She was sorry? She had never done anything to me. Xion saw my expression and she giggled, never letting the smile leave her face.

"For what I said, to Namine I mean," She explained. I nodded. I bet Namine will be glad to hear that, but she'll probably still hate Xion. I don't see why she does, I mean, Xion had never exactly done anything to Namine before today, so what was the big deal? If you think about it, Namine had always had a small thing against Xion.

"I'll tell her you said that," I say to her. Xion lets out a sigh of relief She turns away and looks out of the window. She crawls on hand and knees to the window and looks out of like I had been. I crawled over to sit next to her. Xion opened the glass and stuck her head out, breathing deeply from her nose. She rests her head on the sill and turns her head, a giant smile no longer on her face. I position my face like hers and stare into her blue eyes. Yes, I had feelings for Xion, they are strong feelings, I've never felt anything like it before. Then there was Namine. Namine is undoubtably one of my best friends, I tell her everything, I tell her of all of the fights I had been in, all of the things between Xion and I. The two of us have this connection, and I feel for Namine also. Ugh, I hate thinking about feelings. I clear my mind.

A serene smile plays at Xion's lips.

"Yes?" I ask her, knowing that she had something to say.

"Well, it's about Destiny Islands," She said to me. I nodded, motioning for her to continue on.

"I recall you saying that it was beautiful, warm, and amazing," I say back to her. Xion nods.

"I'm going to visit the beach tomorrow," She says with a large smile. I smile for her. She was going back to her original home, the place she had told me that she loved with all of her heart.

"That's amazing! Take a lot of pictures for me," I say to her. Xion bites her lips and tries her best hold back her giggles.

"Here's the thing, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I know how you always wanted to go their, and I figured that now would be the best opportunity," She said to me. I shot up and smiled larger than before. Me, Roxas, the Head of Twilight Town, taking a day off to go to the beach. Who would've thought? I laugh just thinking about a fearsome gang leader relaxing on a beach.

"Of course I'll go! This is the best thing that has ever happened to me, without a doubt!" I shout. I couldn't help it. So, if you heard someone laughing and screaming, that was proabably me. Xion pulls herself off of the ledge and faces me completely. She giggles freely and smiles largely once again. Xion scoots forward and wraps her arms around my waist, burrying her face in my neck. I wrap my arms around her, a smile still on my face.

Destiny Islands, I'm going to see it. And I'm going to see it with the girl I absolutely love. I know I do. All thoughts of Namine that I had moments before were replaced with ones of Xion. As if sensing a change of though Xion looked up. I stop laughing, as does Xion. She slowly leans forward so her nose is touching my own. I close the small gap between our lips and love the buzz feeling it gave me. Xion broke away after what seemed like hours and placed her face in the crook of my neck again. I reposition my hands on her back so they were higher up. My fingers subconciously started playing with her small ponytail.

"Xion, I love you," I say to her, whispering it into her ear. If you haven't noticed, I'm a bold person. Xion's arms tighten around my waist.

"I love you too," She says. Then, probably the most unxpected thing happens. Xion sniffles. Then there's a warm liquid pressing against my neck. I ignore it and rub Xion's hair in a hopefully soothing manner. Seconds later I'm nearly positive that the hood of my sweatshirt has been soaked through. Xion's sobs resonate in my ears, becoming the only thing I could think about. I rested my head on top of her own trying to calm her down. It didn't work at all.

"I'm sorry," She chokes out between sobs. I rack my mind for any possible thing she could be sorry for. I settle for believing she was sorry for getting my sweatshirt wet. In my heart though, deep down in the place I rarely pay attention to, I knew something truly was wrong with Xion and that Namine was right about her. I should be careful with on this Xion, I know I'm approaching dangerous waters.

I won't admit to that though, and for now, I'm gonna ignore that part of my heart. It's all about Xion from now on.

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**Yes, I'm sorry it took forever to update, and I'm sorry this is cruddy and short. Next chapter will be pretty long though, and that's when I'm gonna make the secret about Xion known.**

**So, tell me, what do you think is up with Xion? Who do you want Roxas to end up with?**

**I hope you loved it. ;D**


	10. Leaving You

**Okay, it's time for Don't Mess with the Rules. **

**Last chapter Xion invited Roxas to Destiny Islands, he accepted.**

**That's where I left off.**

**You know the time I said something is up with Xion, well, this is when you find out what it is.**

**Oh, and I'm sorry for the telling and not showing, I'm working on it.**

**WARNING: THERE ARE SOME CLICHES**.

**And, yeah, I'm very sorry for the unbelievably long wait, ugg, not much inspired, and the error thing sort of gave me a chance to not write for a while, haha. To top that all of, I just realized something huge and it freaks me out.**

**I just want to make it clear, Rox acts nicer around Xion and Nams cuz 1) He's dating Xion (he believes that he's in love) and 2) He has feelings to Namine (which he fervently denies). So, I at least wanted him to be nice to them due to his feelings.**

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I woke up early. Earlier than everyone else in all of Twilight Town probably. Why would I even wake up early? Well, I don't need my Mom and Dad to know where I'm going, I don't need anyone to be questioning me and making me lag behind. I flick on the tall floor lamp that was in a corner of my room and walked to the closet. Xion said that we'd be at the islands for three days, so that means two days away from everyone, including Namine.

I push the thoughts of Namine out of my head. All I can think about is her saying that something is wrong with Xion. Those thoughts don't exactly make me want to go on this trip. So, no thoughts of Namine at all, it's all going to be thoughts of Xion. I fling open the door and grab a duffel bag. I close the door as lightly as I could, as to not wake up my parents. I make my way over to the old dresser and grasped the handles.

I slowly pulled my arms towards myself. I cringed when a loud moan came from the dresser. I looked towards the door. There was nothing that suggested that my parents were awake, but I continued on. I wasn't going to go slow, it would only make it more obvious. It's now or never. I adjusted my grip, then pulled as fast as I could. The creak was only for a second, but it was hella loud. I pursed my lips.

I turn my gaze to the door again and smile when I don't see any light coming from under the door. I turn away and grab three days worth of shirts and shorts. I have to dig around fro what seems like hours to gind my swim trunks. I throw that into my bag also. I quickly close the drawer and grab the jeans from the spot I had thrown them and shook them open. I untied the strings on my sweats and push them down to the ground. I grab my black shorts and pull them up and button them as quickly as possible.

Then I pulled the over sized shirt I had been wearing off and threw it to the ground. I picked up the white t shirt I pulled out and pulled it down my head. I put all of the other clothes I had taken out and hastily put them into the duffel bag. I walk to the door of my room and slip on the sandals I rarely ever used. I walked to my bed and I grabbed the duffel bag, swinging it over my shoulder. I walk to my desk and put my sweatshirt in the crook of my arm.

I was about to leave my room when I saw something. There was a bright light pooling in from under my door. My parents had woken up. I back away from the door. Now how do I get out? I walk backwards and sit on my bed. How? Everything is ruined now. I sigh and put the duffel bag onto the ground near my bed. The door opens and two figures are standing in the door way. My Dad narrowed his eyes when he saw the duffel bag and my Mom pursed her lips.

"What ar you doing?" My Dad asks me. I look at him, annoyed at how he ruined my plans.

"What does it look like?" I ask him coldly. My Dad crosses his arms.

"You're not allowed to go any where," He says. I shrug, not really caring about his opinion.

"I can do what I want, I do make the rules after all," I say back. My Mom huffs and I turn my gaze to her.

"What's your problem?" I ask. My Mom shakes her head at me.

"All of your stupid rules. We're your parents Roxas, why do we have to follow all of these rules?" She asks me. On any other day I would've answered that it was because I wanted everyone to pay for bullying me in the old days, but this is one of those days.

"It's for Sora," I say back. My Mom looks away, her eyes suddenly down cast. My Dad looked at me, his eyes showing an untold sorrow, something I have never seen within him.

"He wouldn't want this," He said to me. I had enough, I don't want to listen to their false accusations. They wouldn't know what he would've wanted or not, so they need to stay out of business like this. I grab the duffel bag and swing it over my shoulder once again.

"You wouldn't know what he'd want," I say back to him. My Dad doesn't respond, so I press on. When I was almost to the door, my Dad put his arm across the frame. Damn, now I can't leave. I glare at my father.

"Let me through," I hiss at him. My Dad shakes his head.

"No," He states simply. I scoff a how much of an idiot he's being. I turn around and look for another way out. My eyes settle on the window. Another one of my spontaneous decisions is coming onto me. I walk to my bed and throw my bag onto the bed. I climb onto it and crawl to the window. I grab the latches and swing the window outwards. The cool night air blasts my face, and a small shiver travels down my spine. I pick up my bag and dangle it from the window.

I let go of the handles and it falls with a dull thud to the smaller roof about five feet below. Before I could swing my own leg out of the window, my mother speaks up.

"You're not leaving," She says. I look back at her and see that she has her arms cross, her eyes were staring hard at me.

"Watch me," I reply. Then I swing my leg into the open air, shivering when the bitter air made contact with my bare skin. I swing my other leg into the air and slowly lower myself into the open space. This time my father talks.

"You better not leave," He says to me. I look at him, my eyes barely reaching above the sill. I don't reply and I let my hands go. I land on the roof and pain courses through my spine. I ignore it and push my duffel bag off the roof and onto the ground. I lower myself to the ground again, waiting until I was as close to the ground as I could be to the ground before letting go. I pulled on the sleeve of my sweatshirt hanging off of the roof and zipped it onto myself.

I bent down and picked up my bag and made my way to Namine's house.

...Later...

I stood outside of Namine's house and I tried to locate the front door. The streets were cold and it took a while, but eventually I did. I grab hold of the knob and I turn it. The door doesn't open and I groan. I should have expected that, I was more focused on getting out of my house to remember that most people lock their doors at night. There's only one way into her house now, and I've only used this way one time.

I walk along the side of the house and I feel along the wall. My hands meet vines and wood. I grasp the wood and place one foot in one of the square cut outs of the wood. I hoist myself, grunting while I do it. I put my other foot up, and move my hands up, pulling myself up. I did that for god knows how long. When I reached the top I let out a huff. The light in Namine's room is off, but I can see the general outline of everything. I see a lump on what seems to be a bed, and I conclude that that is Namine.

I take off one hand and wobble a bit. I hold my breath and tighten my grip, trying to balance my self. When I stop movig around so much I place my free hand on her window. I feel around, looking for a handle to open the window. I find none. I pull my self closer to the wall and put my other hand back onto the wood. Great, I came all the way up here for nothing. I groan and let my head fall forward. I hadn't exactly thought out that action because my head collided painfully with the glass. I wince and quickly pull my head back.

Without thinking I took a hand away from the one thing keeping me from falling and rubbed my head. I cursed at myself and tried my hardest not to curse the inventor of windows. Suddenly a light shone through the window and into my eyes. I squinted and created a visor with the hand that I was rubbing my head with. I could see a shape moving towards the window. The window was pushed up and a very angry blonde girl glared at me.

"What the hell Roxas?" She whispered to me. I didn't answer but moved my hands into her room. I curled them around the bottom of the sill and pulled. I grunted and swung my legs. Namine scoffed and grabbed both of my hands, pulling me into her room. I crashed onto her floor. I wasn't that loud, but it was still a blazingly obvious noise. I sat up and gave Namine a smile. She replied by baring her teeth and growling.

I ignored her and sat on her bed. Namine walked over to me and pushed me off then took my place. She sat back against her pillows and crossed her arms. I looked up at her from the floor and noticed just how disheveled she looked. Her hair was a mess around her head and stood up in every place, her t-shirt was way to big and hung off a shoulder, and her purple shorts went only to about mid thigh.

"What are you dong here?" She asked me.

"I wanted to see you," I reply.

"At three in the morning?" She whisper shouted at me. I shrugged.

"I'll be gone by ten in the morning, and the world knows you sleep until noon," I say back to her. Namine stops glaring, and she raises her eyebrows. I doubt it's because I brought up her "normal" sleeping patterns.

"You're leaving?" She asks. I nod.

"Not for a long time though. Only about three days," I say back to her. She nods slowly.

"You're going where?" She inquires.

"Destiny Islands," I say back to her. She nods once again, biting her lip.

"Is it safe to assume that it's a gang thing?" She asks me. I shake my head and Namine's eyebrows rose once again. I took the chance to elaborate. I thought she would've caught on, but no one can be as smart as me, right?

"I'm going with Xion. We're getting a hotel," I tell her. Namine smacks her lips and looks away from me. She scoffs and shakes her head. "Is there a problem?" I ask her. Namine looks back at me, her eyes like a predator's.

"Yes, there _is _a problem. You're going away with your girlfriend. You've only been dating for a few months, yet you're going away to stay with her for three days. To top it all off, I TOLD you that something was wrong with her! You shouldn't even talk to her, I know that she's up to something!" Namine no longer tried to keep her voice down. I glared at her. She had just ruined the good mood I had been in. All I wanted to do now is throw rocks at some ass hole.

"It's my life, I can do what I want. I've never made you- of all people follow the rules. Now you do. You can't tell me what to do, ever. And yes, I know what you told me about her. I don't care what you said, I know that it's not true," I said. Okay, that last part was a lie, I think something is wrong with Xion, but I'd never admit that.

"Your rules is definately the stupidest thing known to man! Some seventeen year old is not supposed to run a town and make the citizens follow some crap rules. What is up with you and making people do whatever you tell them to do? You know that you're never going to control every single person in this town right?" She asks in an almost hateful tone. I know that she was hinting about my not being able to control her, she's told me that all to many times.

"You're stupid just saying that Namine. I truly am the ruler of Twilight Town. There are jus't some things you can't change," I say to her. I hadn't been a total dick to Namine in what seemed like years, but I have to renounce my old ways, just to show her who's boss.

"Watch me change it," She says to me. Namine is glaring like there's no tomorrow. I laugh at her.

"You think you're all tough, but you're not. All you are is some whiny little girl. All you can do is paint pictures and paint your nails. I find that pathetic. You've never actually been in a real fight, have you? I bet you've never even gotten a nose bleed. Look at me Namine, I have all the experience one person could ever need. You can never change things around here, I'm the only one the can. Don't lie, it only makes you uglier," I say to her in a sugary voice. Namine's face turns red, and it seems like steam is billowing from her ears. Namine clenches her fists and shakes.

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU'RE THE PATHETIC ONE HERE! I'm not the one who beats people up for the fun of it, I'm not the one who deals drugs and gets in fights with nearly EVERY FUCKING PERSON! You really are messed up Roxas, you're the farthest thing from normal I've ever seen. You're a freak," She spat out the last line. I glared at her, feeling something the I hadn't felt towards Namine in a long time. Hatred. It's hopefully a hate that only lasts for a little bit, I don't want to end up hating her for the rest of my life.

"I'm not a freak. YOU'RE the freak here. Your favorite thing to do is paint cruddy pictures and read the shitty books your Mom wrote. I go out and actually experience everything life has to offer. I get that amazing feeling from the drugs, I have smoke in my body. I get to punch people and get away with it, you know why, right? Everyone is too much of a wuss to stand up to me, they don't go against me or what I say. They follow all of the rules and stay in line. While they do that I sit back looking pretty, a constant threat to them. I can keep them in line just my looking at them. They know that if they don't follow the rules, they'll surely be dead before morning. Now that is normal," I say. Namine's mouth is a thin white line and her eyes are narrowed, her hands are clenched.

"You better shut the hell up," She threatens. I smirk at her, only wanting to ignite her anger further. The door of her room opened and a short man with dirty blond hair appeared at the door. His eyes were barely open and his mouth was open. His hair was standing up around his head and his boxers were uneven on his thin pale legs. He looked at Namine then at me. He eyes widened to what you could consider surprised when it comes to a person who is half sleeping.

"Naminuh, wha is he doin heuh?" He slurred, his eyes struggling to stay open and his mouth barely able to form actual words.

"He's just leaving, I have to do something first," She says. Her father doesn't respond. I look at him and see that his head is facing the floor, his eyes are closed, and a light snore escaped his lips. Namine gets up off of her bed and makes her way toward me. I look up at her, and she motions me to stand up. I do. I look at Namine for what seemed like eternity. Before I knew it, her fist went flying towards my face.

I stumbled back into her wall, open mouthed. Namine punched me. The sad part is that it actually hurt. I hold my jaw and glare at her. From the corner of her eye I see her Dad looking around the room, his eyes wide yet beginning to fall once again. I look back at Namine, her eyes were still narrowed and her jaw was set. I laughed. I really did laugh. She thinks that she's all high and mighty, but I was off guard, it's not really any victory, but she thinks that it is. I walk towards her and push down on her shoulders.

She falls onto the floor and a wince. I walk to the window and sat onto the sill, swirling my body so my stomach was on the wood. Then I began to lower myself into the open space, moving my legs about, trying to find the holes in the wood. I did and began to descend to the ground. Soon enough my feet touched the slightly mushy grass. I bent down and picked up my bag, hefting it over my shoulder. I walked away from her house, feeling better with every step I took.

...Later...

I leaned against the shiny hood of the red car. The sun was shining brightly even though it was early in the morning. I crossed my arms and looked into the car once again. I had thrown my bag into the back, not really caring if it landed on the floor or seat. Suddenly there was a loud giggle that somehow managed to be clear and perfectly audible above the roar of cars. I turned my head in the general direction and saw Xion running towards me.

Xion had light blye cut off jean shorts that went about mid thigh, and a loose, flowing, yellow tank top. Her short black hair was somehow gathered on the top of her head and she had many barrettes in her hair helping support her hair. She had dainty pink flip flops adorning her feet. She dropped her duffel bag and rub up to me, throwing her arms around my waist. I put my own arms around her back, pulling her close to me, burring my nose in her hair. I rubbed her back.

She tilted her head up to me, and quickly pressed her lips to mine. Xion looked at the car, then at me.

"You have a license?" I shake my head.

"Nope, but I have a learner's permit," I say. Xion scunches her eyebrows.

"Won't we get in trouble?" She asks me. I shake my head. I couldn't help but compare her to Namine. Namine would've jumped into the car hooting. Either that or she would've pushed me out of the driver's seat and drive the car herself.

"Only if we get caught," I say. Xion didn't look convinced. I roll my eyes.

"Come on, no one's gonna know. I'll be really careful," I say. Xion looks away for a minute or two. Then she looks back at me and takes a deep breath and puffed it out between her teeth. She then smiled at me and nodded. I smiled back, happy that she gave in. I went and picked up her bag where she had dropped it and with my free hand led her to the passenger side of the door. I open the door for her and she gives me another big smile. She slides into the seat, I shut the door then throw the bag into the back again.

I get behind the wheel and start up the car. The car comes to life and I shake out my shoulders. I pressed down on the pedal and we sped down the road. The wind blew through my hair, letting it trail behind me. The wind roared in my ears, but I didn't care. I just love driving at high speeds like this.

"Where did you get this car anyway?" She asks me. I turn to look at her for a second, catching sight of the majestic blue ocean behind her. The water was sparkling from the sunlight and I forced myself to turn .

"Axel's," I say. Xion nods, not questioning me any further than that. It stayed like that for a while. I took my right hand off the wheel and let it rest on the small cd holder between Xion

and I. A couple of seconds later, Xion's hand found it's way into mine. She intertwined her fingers with my own. I smiled to myself, deciding that I could live in this moment forever.

...5PM...

I stretched out on the beach towel. Today was probably the best I've ever had. Xion comes bounding to me straight from the ocean. She looked to the sky with her eyes narrowed, as if she was expecting something.

"We should get going before it rains," She says to me. I look at the sky too. There were some dark clouds beginning to crowd the sky over the beach. I look back at Xion and wave off her comment.r

"I doubt it'll rain. C'mon, I want to go swiming again!" I say jumping up from the chair. I didn't wait for her to respond. I ran as fast as I could to the water. I sprinted right into the ocean right as a giant wave came into shore. I was knocked off my feet and my face was submerged under the salty water. I, being the amazingly good looking idiot that I am, gasped and as a result swallowed a lot of water. I sat up coughing and rubbing my eyes. Xion was by my side in record time. Her small hands were on my back and shoulder.

"Are you okay Roxas?" She asks. I nod and shrug off the uncomfortable feeling in my chest. I smiled at her like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Let's just get in there," I said. Xion studied my face for what seemed like hours. I get up and make my way to the water. As soon as it touched my legs, a shiver went up my spine. The water was freezing, but nice all the same. Xion came up behind me and grabbed my hand, giving it a light squeeze (which I returned). I walked until I was about stomach height. I let go of Xion's hand and swam farther out. I stopped until my the water came to the top of my neck. I smiled at Xion, and she returned the smile.

She swam closer to me. She got close enough to hold my hand underwater. I had some difficulty staying afloat, but that doesn't matter. I pull Xion closer to me and plant a small kiss on her forehead. I somehow manage to keep both of our heads above the water after she put her head against my chest.

"Have you ever wished that you could undo something?" She asked me out of the blue. I was taken slightly aback, but I answered anyways.

"Yeah, I have. Why?" I ask her. She shrugs and looks up at me, a sad smile on her face.

"No reason," She says. "If you did get the chance to undo something, would you do it?" She asks me. I look away. The water stretched on for what seemed like forever. An endless expanse of blue.

"I don't know. Maybe," I say. Xion nods and rests her head against my chest again. I looked into the sky. To my displeasure, the sky somehow became full of dark clouds. I curse under my breath and push Xion away a little so I could swim back.

"What's wrong?" She asks me. I point to the sky and she looks up.

"I think you were right about the rain," I said. Xion didn't say anything else and began to swim back to shore. I followed after her.

Back on the shore Xion had gathered up the blanket and her small bag and made her way to the car without me. I wrapped one of the towels around my waist. Before making my way to the car I shook my hair. Water sprayed every where.

...At the Hotel...

I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Technically, I was ready for bed. I just took a shower, I was in my jammies. I heard the shower in the bathroom start. I settled down onto one of the beds and rested my head on my hands. A cell phone rang. My hand flew to the bedside table. It was only then that I realized it was Xion's phone. I don't think Xion heard, and I don't think she'd mind if I picked it up. I got up and I made my way over to where she had left her cell.

I picked it up and held it to my ear.

"Is the plan in motion?" A mysterious voice asked. I held the phone at arms length and stared at in bewilderment, imagining that my look is making the man uncomfortable.

"Who is this?" I counter ask. As soon as I finished talking, there was a click. I snapped her cell phone shut and put it back where I had found it. _Strange_, I thought. I looked towards where Xion would be. Okay, something definately _was_up with her. I'll give Namine that much. I wanted to find out what is up with her. I'm not exactly known for being able to quench needs like this, and I'm known for snooping. There's one place that I can get information. Her bag.

I quickly go to where her bag is and pull it onto the bed. I unzip it and peer into it. Her bag was big, and there was a bunch of random crap in it. One thing that caught my attention though was a manilla folder. I pulled the folder out. On the front was Xion's name. I open the folder and inspect the first piece of paper.

**_POLICE DEPARTMENT OF TWILIGHT TOWN_**

_Plan 56_

_Performer: Xion Amahara- Volunteer_

_Details: Make him fall in love. Bring to Destiny Islands. Capture._

_Objective: Bring Roxas Strife into Custody._

My breaths come ragged, my blood began to course through my veins, white hot. She lied to me, she made me fall in love with him, she made me finally feel something more than silly attraction. I went on to the next paper. This one was worst than the first one.

_**POLICE DEPARTMENT OF TWILIGHT TOWN**_

_**File: Roxas Strife**_

_Roxas enjoys-_

I stopped reading. Xion had been one of them all along. She was one of the people that I fought so hard to stay away from. Yet somehow, they managed to get me in the type of spot where I'd gladly give my life for one of them, a place where I'd listen to whatever they said. Let's just say Xion won't be forgiven for a while.

The door to the bathroom opened and I heard Xion pad into the room.

"Whatchya lookin' at Roxas?" She asks. I don't say anything, and I sense Xion's presence behind me. She gasps and makes a grab for the papers. "Give that back!" She shouts at me. I get up and glare at her.

"Why? Why did you do it?" I ask her. She looks away from me.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," She responds. I snort.

"What do you mean 'thought'?" I ask her. Xion plays with her fingers.

"You aren't really what you seem. You have your reasons, you don't do it just because you want to. It's not like you randomly decided to become a gang leader," She says. I shake my head.

"Whatever you say. Just know that I don't buy that," I say back to her.

"I didn't think you would. The truth is, I didn't plan on actually falling for you," She says. I don't respond to her, so she continues. "I thought that you were just another ass hole, but then you actually started talking to me. You were so nice, and you were nice to your gang. Then we got to spend that time together finding Namine. I realized that maybe you weren't a complete jerk at that moment. Before I knew it, I fell for you. I fell hard Roxas. I almost backed out of the plan, I didn't want to do it. I wanted to help you because I love you Roxas, I'm not lying." Xion puts her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off, disgusted that she was touching me.

"Then why are we here?" I asked her.

"You can't exactly back out of something like this Roxas," She said back to me. I scoff.

"You could've run away with me, I would've left with you," I said bitterly.

"I would've, but I just couldn't, you have to understand-" I cut her off, tired of hearing her plead.

"I'm not going to understand. I'm not even going to try. _You _can understand _this:_ it's over. There's no more relationship between us. Let's just say I've never met you in my life," I say. Before Xion can say anything, I'm off the bed. I grab the keys, my duffel bag and put my sandals on. I open the door when Xion speaks.

"Please, don't leave me," She says. Her words were almost impossible to make out from in between the sobs. She hicupped twice. It took my whole being not to go over to her and give her a hug, to rub her hair and calm her down.

"It's too late," I say. I slam to door and walk away from Xion, away from the one thing I had called my life in a long time, and I walked away from the only time I had truly loved someone.

I knew where I was going. I was going to see Axel, I didn't want Namine to be happy that she proved me wrong.

* * *

**OKAY! THERE'S THAT MASSIVE CHAPTER! I think that that is the longest chapter I've ever written, dang... Anyways, so yesh, the truth is, Xion volunteered for Plan 56. **

**Did you like it?**

**Tell me what you think!**

**THIS IS 5,668 WORDS! **


	11. Why?

**It's time for Don't Mess with the Rules! I love all the love I'm getting, and I love you back yo. :D**

**Sorry for the incredibly long wait, I've been sort of blech about this. So yeah, FORGIVE ME MY LOVERS! Bleep out that last part if you must;)**

**Last chapter Roxy found out that Xion was in the police department and was supposed to capture him on their trip, but he founds outs! So he broke it off and left. And that's where I believe I left off!**

**ENJOY MY FRINEDS!**

**Sorry for almost taking a month D:**

**HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! I HOPE YOU GOT TO SPEND EASTER WITH YOUR LOVED ONES!**

* * *

In seconds I'm outside of the hotel, standing in only my jammies in the pouring rain. I clutch the duffel bag to my body and venture to the car. I had stupidly parked quite a bit away from the entrance.

She betrayed me? Why? Why would she lie to me? Why did she make me love her? What is it about her that makes me want to forgive and forget? Why am I the one going through all of this? Why me?

By the time I reach the car I'm thoroughly soaked and my hair was sticking to my forehead. I swing the keys around my finger and press the button that unlocks the car. There's a loud click and I open the door. I shove my bag into the passenger seat and slid in. I slammed the door closed and slid the key into the ignition, turning the key and smiling when the car purred to life. I turned to grab the buckle when I see a sight. Xion was running towards the car, wearing only a large shirt, sandals, and she was wrapped in a yellow coat.

I quickly grab the buckle and drag it across my body, pressing it into the holder, never taking my eyes off of her. What does she want? Before I could drive away, she slams into the side of the car. I sigh and roll down the window.

"Yes?" I ask, somewhat annoyed. Her eyes were red, and her face was soaked along with all of her clothes.

"Please don't leave. Stay with me," she pleads. I roll my eyes, and bark out laughter. I shake my head and glare at her.

"Don't even try that, Xion. Why would I stay, when you lied to me. Besides, I know you're going to bring me in. I have to save my own skin here," I reply, turning away from her to look out the windshield. Xion made a noice that was between crying and choking. I tried my best to not look at her, because I know that if I do, I'd give in and stay with her.

"Please, just stay with me. We'll run away, just like you said. We can go across the globe, we'll go to Radiant Garden and start a life there. Please, just, stay with me," she pleads, becoming desperate. Can I trust her? Does she mean it? Will she actually run away with me? Will we be able to start a new life together? No. Once a liar, always a liar. I adjust my grip on the steering wheel and take a deep breath.

"No. Just go away Xion, I don't want anything to do with you," I say, hopefully with a tone of finality. I press the button and the window rolls up. I wait for Xion to move from the car before speeding off in the rainy evening. I dared to look back in the rear view mirror and saw Xion slumped on the ground, practically swallowed by her jacket. I looked back to the road and continued driving farther and farther away from the one women I've every loved.

...Later...

I was almost completely across the bridge when it happened. I started crying. I never actually planned on crying over a liar like Xion, but I find that I couldn't help it. My face had nearly dried completely and my hair had even started to deefy gravity once again. The tears trailed down my cheeks and fell off onto my clothes, staining them in giant globs. I took a hand off the steering wheel and wiped my face, trying to dry it off. Though I realized as soon as I did that, my cheeks started to itch unbearbly, so I left it be.

My own sobs filled the car, it was as if I had turned on the radio and a sob fest had been on. It felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest and left a gaping hole, bleeding and aching. My lungs ached from the over use, the air pretty much had to force it's way through my throat. At first I had been angry, but now I feel what Xion must have been feeling. Dread, longing, sadness, desperation. It felt like life would never be the same

It's weird, I was the one who broke it off, yet I still feel that sadness. The heart is strange, huh? I didn't want to go home, I don't really like it there. I'll be killed if I go to Namine's, so that leaves only Axel. Eventually the bridge disperses into regular old road, and without even thinking about it, I go to Twilight Town. I drive for what seems for hours. Tall buildings came into view, and in the distance I could see the Train Tower.

I take a left, just before where the main entrance to the Town was. I had to stop the car for a couple of minutes though, you know, the law and everything. I was somehow not in the mood to break the law, so I did what I had to. An officer walked up the car and I reached into the small CD compartment and grabbed the Pass. You see, Twilight Town is a strange city. It's illegal to drive a car anywhere but the back roads in Twilight Town, so most people walk or use the Trams. It's crowded here, and the streets weren't really made for cars. You needed a Pass to get onto the back roads, which is where Axel lives.

I show the officer and he nods, motioning me forward. I step on the gas and the car is propelled forward. I don't even have to think about where his house is, I just know from all the times I've snuck to his house during the night. Within seconds I'm there. I park the car in his small driveway and turn the car off. I grab my bag and open the door. Suddenly the sound of rain pounding outside is amplified. I step out of the car, key and bag in my hand. I slam the door closed and walk up to the door. I knock twice, hoping Axel is home. No one came to the door.

Instead of going back into the car like any smart person would, I sat on the step, scarcely under the nearly non existant roof extension above the door. At least the rain masked the fact that I'm crying my eyes out. I plant my bag on my lap and burry my head in the fabric. My life is horrible, let's just face the facts.

I fell in love with a girl, but it turns out she only started talking to me so she could bring me into jail. I'm 17 years old, my Dad hates me and my brother is dead. It's my fault he's dead, and it's not one of those 'take-the-blame-onto-myself', I really am the reason he's dead. I knew he had cancer again, but I didn't tell anyone.

Before I could continue my inner monologue, I was interuppted.

"Roxas?" A voice called from about five feet away from where I was sitting. I looked up and saw Axel standing there, a hood up covering his red spikes, a bag slung over his shoulders.

"Yeah?" I ask him. He walks closer and sits next to me.

"Why are you sitting in the rain?" He asks me. I look at him and wipe my nose.

"You weren't home," I reply. Axel stands up and puts his bag next to me. He unlocks the door and opens it. I stand up and grab my bag along with Axel's, then I walk past Axel and into his house. The lights were off but I knew where the switch was. I flicked the lights on and Axel walks in behind me. He closes the door and takes his bag from me. He looks up the stairs.

"Go on up and change into something dry," he says to me. I nod and trudge up the stairs. The manly part of me told me to buck up in front of Axel.

I was back downstairs sitting on the couch with Axel, a cup of coffee in my hand. I had changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts I had brought in my bag. I couldn't really find anything to say, so I just kept sipping the coffee, letting my mind wander. Axel placed his feet on the small coffee table in front of the couch.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be with Xion?" He asked me. I look down in my coffee, the old crummy feelings resurfacing. Before I know it I'm crying all over again. I hear Axel set his coffee mug on the table and I felt my own mug pulled from my hands and placed next to his. He put his hands on my shoulders. Without him actually letting me, I gave him a giant bear hug and cried my heart out into his shirt. You know, it really does help to have a best friend to help with these things.

"Roxas? What happened?" He inquired. I take shaky breaths. "Did she break up with you?" He continues. I shake my head against his chest. "Then what happened?" He asked once again. I couldn't answer, my mouth was too busy with forcing air out painfully. He sighed and gripped my shoulders once again, he pushed me away from him and looked me in the eye. "Buck up Roxas! You're Roxas Strife! You never cry! Man up and tell me what happened so I can beat someone up for you!" He half screamed into my face. I looked down and sniffed. I blinked, trying to get the tears out of my system. It worked eventually. I looked back up and leaned against the back of the couch.

"I broke up with her," I say. Axel furrows his eyebrows.

"Then why the hell are you crying?" He asks me. I shake my head, pointing out that I wasn't finished with my story yet.

"Xion appeared one day, out of no where with Xemnas by her side. She began talking to me, almost trying to be with me. Why would she even talk to me, the biggest ass hole in Twilight Town? Well it turns out she wanted to be more than friends. I liked her too, she was nice enough. We went out for a long time, and I fell in love with her. She invited me on this trip, and I finally found out why she wanted to date me. She's with the police. She was going to bring me in to the police that day. She never loved me, no matter how many times she said that she did. She only used me," I say looking away from Axel, embarassed from being played. He looks away too, and focuses on the wall.

"I never would've guessed. She never stuck me as that type of person. And she used you most of all, no one uses Roxas Strife, no one screws him over, you're hard to decieve, trust me," he said, biting his nails. I nod rubbing my cheeks, trying to get the tears off of them.

"Tell me about it, I don't know why I was the one to be targeted. They could have brought in anyone they wanted to. Why did she have to use _me?_" I asked mainly myself.

"You're the strongest person in Twilight Town, you control all of its people, even some of the authoritive figures bent to your will. Other than that, you're the leader of the most feared gang in Twilight Town. Face it, you're the one person who could ruin the whole police department, and they don't want that, they wanted you out. So they sent Xion on you, that's why," he explained. I nodded, all of that was true, but I was still full of questions.

"Why am I even in a gang?" I ask once again to myself.

"Because Sora is dead. You went wild and stopped caring after he died. You let everything that was once important to you go and replaced it with danger and drugs," he says once again. Why did I go crazy? Was it from guilt for letting Sora die? Or was I sad that he was gone? I don't really know.

"Sometimes I regret following you, look where it got me," I say, feeling what I haven't felt in a long time. Regret. It's only every couple of months or so that I feel it. I truly do regret this decision sometimes, yet most of the time I'm happy I chose this life, it felt like it suited me.

"Well, I don't regret meeting my best friend, and I'm sure Namine doesn't regret meeting you either," he says, trying to cheer me up. Namine. Last time I saw her I pissed her off which caused her to punch me in the face. I'm pretty sure she regrets ever seeing me more than ever right now. I shake my head.

"No, I made her really angry this morning. She'll probably never talk to me again after what happened," I say back to him. Axel looks at me, his green eyes searching my face.

"Well, you'll never know unless you ask," he says in an over cheerful tone. I turn to look at him with narrowed eyes.

"What are you implying?" I ask him. He stands up and drags me up with him.

"We're going to go see Namine whether you like it or not," he said. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the door despite my protests. I groan and drag my feet. Axel throws a jacket at my face, which I grudgingly put on. When I'm done I see that Axel too had gotten his coat on and led me out into his car.

...At Namine's...

"Just knock."

"Shut up."

"Pussy."

"Ass," I say, trying to end his banter. I take a deep breath and knock thrice on the door. On the surface, I don't want her to open the door, but I secretly want her to appear and tell me not to worry about anything. Ten seconds later a familiar blonde girl opened the door. I look up at her, then back down again. I hear her make a noise of disgust.

"What do _you_ want?" She asks us. I don't say anything and turn around to go back to the car. Axel speaks up.

"We need to talk, it's pretty important," he told her. I don't know what Axel did, but Namine sighed.

"Fine, come in," I heard her say. I turn back around and hurry inside. I'm thankful to be out of the rain and I shed the coat, hanging it up on a hook. Namine leads us into the kitchen and I hear music blasting from upstairs. I know it was her Dad, he had done that every time I came over. I sat down on a stool with Axel next to me and Namine on his other side.

"Why are you here Roxas. You're supposed to be with Xion, right? Besides, I didn't think you'd show up again after what happened," she says icily. I shrug.

"Well, you were right about Xion, something was wrong with her," I say quietly. I don't have to look at Namine to know that she's smiling.

"I told you! I told you so!" She said happily, throwing in a laugh or two. I felt myself growing angrier and angrier. This is why I didn't want to tell her that she was right.

"Shut up," Axel commanded before I could. She obliged. "You don't understand. It's not like a mental problem or anything, it's something worse. It could've made Roxas go away for a long time, that's how bad it is, so don't you dare laugh about this," Axel said angrily, looking at Namine for confirmation. Namine crumbled under the will of Axel and nodded, looking down. "You see, Xion here only went out with Roxas so she could turn him in to the police, that's all there is to it. So while you're there gloating about how you're right, put yourself in Roxas' shoes, and think about what it must be like for him. I don't give a damn about what he did to you, this is one hundred times worse than that!" He scolded. Namine swallowed. I nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"Everyone has their problems," she says. I look at her.

"What's you're problem?" I ask her. She looks at Axel and he takes the cue to leave the room. She moves into the seat next to me. She looks into my eyes.

"You know how I said my Mom died?" She asks me. I nod. Namine leans closer and whispers something into my ear. "She's not my real Mom." I pull back from her, widening my eyes.

"What?" I screech. What does she mean by that.

"My Dad remarried. My real Mom, she...she abused me."

* * *

**YUSH! SO YEAH! That's it yall! I'm sorry if you don't like that little tid bit there. I didn't really plan on making it a cliffy, but I like it better like that. You'll get an explanation from Nams next chapter.**

**Anyhoozles, why do you like this fanfiction? And how do you get the accenty mark over the e in 'Namine?'**

**Thanks for reading! HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL! :)**


	12. I Can't, I'm sorry

**HEY! It's time for Don't Mess with the Rules.**

**BTW, I had this giant AN already written, but it got deleted and im too lazy to write it ALL over. I got the accented e, but I have to copy and paste it from word b/c it doesnt work on the internet. And sadly, no one gave the write answer, I have a DELL so it doesn't work. D: I got it from a s k . c o m**

**ENJOY MY LOVELY READERS!**

**:D**

**Oh, I'm sorry for the amount of mistakes in the last chappie, it's more than usual. :L**

**P.S. In chapter 6, when I said: "Three years passed and his cancer still hadn't gone," I meant that it came back after the therapy, but he never knew. So yeah, I thought I chould point that out.**

**AS OF TODAY I'VE BEEN ON FANFICTION FOR A YEAR NOW. IT'S BEEN THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE CUZ OF THIS SITE. :)**

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What? What? She was abused? I didn't know what to say? What supposed to say to that, well other than 'WTH?' I blinked a couple of times and tapped my fingers on the counter top. I looked at Naminé and saw that she wasn't looking at me.

"How did she do it? How long did she do it? Where is she now?" Were all of the questions that flew out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I saw her tighten her lips some and I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. She's the one to shake her head this time.

"No, it's okay. It's natural to be curious. It's just, I've never actually told anyone other than myself before, it's weird when people ask questions because they never did. Anyway, she hit me a lot and she would sometimes burn me with her cigarette butts. Sometimes she liked to humiliate me and call me names, but it mainly happened as I got older. I got the burns removed a while ago. She abused me until my father saw her doing it, he just thought I was being bullied and contacted the school about it. She kept doing it up until I was about eleven, that's when my Dad walked in. He called the police and had her arrested. She's in jail now, she's going to be there for a very, very long time," she said not looking at me. I nodded and looked away also. Somehow, the air seemed to be tensed. I swallowed and rubbed above my lips.

"I'm sorry. If you ever need to get your anger out, I guess you can yell at me," I said suddenly turning to look at her. She looked at me and smiles weakly.

"I'm already doing that," she replied. I made an 'o' with my lips. I never actually thought she was using me to get everything out of her system, sure, she yelled at me more than it was necessary, but I always assumed it was because she was a person who needs to yell. It actually kind of makes sense. I was sort of surprised that I hadn't pieced that together.

"Oh," I said lamely. Naminé looked at me and I saw the she must have been close to crying since her eyes were turning a bit red and I saw some water beginning to build up on her bottom lids.

"You're nice for offering," she said. I looked out the window. Am I nice? In the quickly darkening night I saw a moment that had haunted me for years.

_...Oh-so-dreaded-flashback..._

_The sunlight was streaming through our shared room. I yawned and sat up in my bed. I shook my head and cracking my knuckles. I looked around the room and saw my older brother making his bed. I groaned and flopped back down in my bed. I closed my eyes and wished for the sunlight to go away. I turned around to face the wall and pulled the blanket up to my ear. Suddenly something was thrown at my head. I groaned._

_"Get up, we're going to be late for school!" Sora shouted, though I was able to hear the smile that was obviously plastered to his face. I turn around and glare at him._

_"I don't want to," I whined. Sora laughed and threw another pillow at me. I groaned and threw the blanket off of me. I stretched and cracked my back, closing my eyes while I did so. When I opened them I saw Sora shred his shirt and throw it onto the ground. He wasn't facing me. He his back and I saw something there, right above his waist and peaking out above his flannel pajama pants. A small spot, miniscule and easy to miss. I didn't though. It seemed to jump out at me,_

_The spot was red and I recognized it from his battle with cancer as one of those dreaded moles. Those abnormal and cancerous moles. We thought Sora had gotten rid of his skin cancer, and it truly was gone for a while- we thought the chemo had killed all of the cancer cells for good. I guess we were wrong, I guess the battle really isn't over._

_I loved my brother, I loved him a lot, but that doesn't mean there's no feeling of jealousy or resentment. Sora had been my only friend over the years, and everyone adored him yet most hated me for reasons I didn't know. He always got attention, especially know that he had- has cancer. Everyone treats him like a king and showers him with flowers and such. I can't help but feel jealous from all of the love he's getting now. It's impossible not to._

_Sora turned around and saw me staring at his back. I looked up into his blue eyes and he flashed me a smile. He pulled the shirt over his head._

_"Whatchya lookin' at?" He asked me. I should tell him. No you shouldn't, a small part of my mind whispered back. There had always been a part of me that was rotten and wanted the worst of things to happen, all for my benefit, of course. I never really listened to it, but this was overpowering. It showed me a seductive future if I lied about what I saw. I was being tempted, and I gave in._

_"Nothing," I say quickly. Sora nods and turn away. I look to the floor, feeling even lower than a person who has just killed a man._

_Which is true, since I'm responsible for my brother's death._

_...End-of-ye-old-flashback..._

_"_Roxas?" Naminé asked me. I jumped slightly, pulled out of my memory. I looked at her.

"Yeah?" I asked her.

"You never answered," she said. I thought back and remembered that she had said I was a nice person.

"Oh yeah. I was thinking," I replied, my mind still not completely gone from that moment. Naminé nodded and leaned her elbow on the counter.

"What about?" She asked me. I looked at her, not really knowing whether or not to tell her. I've told her nearly everything there is to know about me, will this actually make a difference?

"Sora," I said simply. Naminé nodded.

"What about him?" She continued. I looked at her and saw that she truly was interested.

"I knew he had cancer again, I didn't tell him," I said quickly. Naminé's jaw fell and she sat upright.

"What?" She screamed. Okay, I should've expected that. I look down again.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. You'd freak out and kick me out of your house," I mumbled to myself. Axel quickly came into the kitchen and looked from Naminé to me.

"Of course I'd freak out! You let your brother die! Do you know how terrible that is?" She screeched. Axel came over and pushed my stool back a couple of feet so he could look at Naminé. He crossed his arms.

"What's all this about?" He asked. Namine shook her arms around.

"He knew Sora had cancer! He let him die! He should get in trouble!" She shouted at him. Axel nodded and looked at me. He wasn't surprised nor was he angry. Axel had always known about what had happened, he was the only person I had told about it until now. He gave me a smile that said he would handle it, he would get her to calm down. He was an expert on this because he had the same reaction as Naminé. He grabbed another stool and sat down on it, facing Naminé

"Calm down," he said to her. She shook her head.

"No, I won't calm down! Aren't you going to do anything? Why aren't you freaking out?" She screeched, beginning to freak out. I guess I'd freak out if I was in her position.

"Unlike you, I know how to put myself in other people's positions," he said. Naminé leaned forward and started wailing on his chest. Axel didn't really react but I knew that he'd be rolling his eyes right now. He lightly pushed her off of him.

"Jeez, calm down," he said, trying to soothe her. She huffed and slammed her head on the counter.

"No," she said lamely. I didn't really know what to do, I felt so useless at this moment in time. Axel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He leaned down and looked at Naminé. He whispered things to her that I couldn't even begin to hear. She sat up and looked at me from her spot. Her facial expression didn't give me any hints about her current mind-set. I was the one to look away first. Axel sat up.

"Now do you get it?" He asked her. Naminé shrugged half heartedly and kept staring at me.

"Say you're sorry for flipping the fuck out," he said. She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, fine. I'm sorry for 'flipping the fuck out' as Axel kindly put it. I'm sure you had your messed up reasons and that I shouldn't judge or flip out," she said quickly.

"It's fine, I sort of expected it. I shouldn't have expected you to be a whiny brat either," I said being totally honest. When I had first met her, I thought she was hot, no doubt about that, but she really seemed like one of those brats who whined to no end.

"You what?" She asked me. I looked at her face and saw her glaring. Damn, she's a pissy one, no? I sighed.

"You get so angry so easily," I said in an off hand manner. Naminé crossed her arms.

"I can't help it. Now get out of my house before I kick you," she said. I looked at Axel and he nodded. He stood up and walked out of the kitchen before I did. I grabbed the stool I had been sitting on and carried it over to it's original spot. I was just about to leave the kitchen when Naminé run up behind me.

Naminé's thin arms snaked around my waist and she rested her head on my back. I stood there in shock for a couple of seconds, then my hands encircled her own. I turned my head to see her looking at me.

"I'm sorry," she muttered again. I blushed, getting a feeling that this wasn't the apology for what had happened a few minutes ago, but something completely separate.

"What for?" I asked her. She leans into my ear.

"For wanting you to come running now that Xion's gone," she said. I turned an even deeper shade of red. Two seconds ago she was sceaming her head off and now she's telling me that she expected me to go to her? The thought alone scares me. I just can't help but think of Xion and how she had broken down in tears on Destiny Islands. The thought alone threatens to make me bawl my heart out all over again.

"I can't, I'm sorry. I'm not over her yet," I said. Naminé sighed in my ear and drew back. She pulled her hands from mine and retracted her arms. I didn't look at her and rushed out of the kitchen. I didn't want her to see how red my face was. I paused for only a second and put Axel's jacket on. I was out the door within seconds. Axel was waiting by the side of her house shielding the flame from his lighter with his hand. He looked up and pocketed the lighter. He smirked.

"Why are you so red?" He teased me. I glared at him.

"Shut the fuck up and take me to your place," I replied. Axel made a face at me but walked to his car.

"Wittle Roxy having wady twoubles?" He asked me in a cheap knockoff of a child's voice. I rolled my eyes.

"No, in fact. The hoes are pouring in," I said sarcastically. Axel nodded.

"I see. You better tap all dem bitches," he said. The rest of the walk to his car was unnaturally quiet. Once inside and far enough away from Naminé's house Axel started talking.

"Do you want to go to your place or mine?" He asked. I pursed my lips. Didn't I already tell him to take me to his place?

"Your place. My parents think I was going to be gone for three days, I'll have to crash at your place," I said to him. Axel nodded.

By the time we got to his house, I was tired as hell. I yawned and flung the door open. I threw the coat on the stairs and walked forward, cracking my back as I went. Axel walked in behind me and pointed to the couch.

"I know the drill," I said before he could even tell me. Whenever we had these sleep overs I was in charge of making my own bed. Axel's couch was a retractable bed you see. Axel slept on the other couch since he never even bothered to buy and _actual_ bed since he thought a 2 bed-couches was a much better bargain. I went through the whole process and finally both of the beds were retracted.

I was tired (and confused) enough, and just plain out wishing this day would end, so I flopped face first on the couch-bed and fell asleep.

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**HEYO:) Thanks for taking the time for reading! It makes me happy.**

**KATOKA:**

**YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE IN THREATS, YOOOO:)**

**Have a good night!**

**IT'S MY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON FF! yay! :D**


	13. True Love Never Dies

**Well, it's been long. Hm, yeah, Don't Mess with the Rules. I've been procrastinating to be honest, mainly Tumblr and the stupid Science Fair I have to do. I'll swear off Tumblr for a while, just for you. **

**Anyways, enjoy this!**

**Before you begin, I just want to point out that this is another chapter with a lot of inner monologue. I hadn't really shown everything about Roxas that was key, so I decided to do what I needed so far in this chapter.**

**I also used it as a chance to show the change in his personality (though it's not entirely obvious).**

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I was a few steps behind Axel by the time we walked into the Train Station. We didn't see anyone that we knew there, not even the gang. I looked around at the man in the ticket booth. He didn't look down like he usually would, but he stared me in the eye. I glared at him, trying to get him to cower. I stopped walking for a moment and closed my eyes, aggravated. I pinched the skin between my scrunched eyebrows. Axel circled back to me.

"Do you have something that I can throw?" I asked him. I heard Axel rummaging through his pockets, but I knew he came up with nothing. I opened my eyes and walked towards the trash can. I peered inside. On the top of the pile, I found a soiled diaper. I frowned, I wouldn't question why a diaper was in that particular trash can, but it's the best thing I could use. I grab it by the edge and turned around, making sure to keep the diaper hidden. I made my way to the ticket booth, holding the diaper behind my back.

I reached the booth and the man behind the glass smiled at me. I glared at him, smirking. He slid open the glass and grabbed a sign showing the ticket prices. Before the man was able to do anything else, I threw the diaper at him. It landed smack dab in the middle of the face. I smiled smugly, watching with complete pleasure. The man dropped the sign and it landed with a small clutter on the floor. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide. He frantically began to wipe off the brown streaks left by the diaper. He looked at me, then dropped his gaze, glaring at the floor. I felt happy, so unbelievably happy that things were back to the way they should be. I'm on top of the world with everyone else under me, fearing me.

I turned away and made my way towards Axel. He smiled and nodded.

"I knew you'd improvise," he said to me. I chuckled.

"Anything to put people back into their place," I replied. Axel nodded and walked off once again towards the flight of stairs leading to the clock tower. I followed him.

...LATER...

We had all been sitting on the roof, not doing anything in particular for what seemed like hours. I was about to ask Larxene if she knew about any gang fights that were open when Xemnas addressed me.

"Roxas, where's Xion?" he asked. I turned to look at him. He was leaning against the side of the clock tower in his usual clothes, but this time instead of his usual black t-shirt, he had a large black sweatshirt in its place. I turned away from him and looked out in the distance. Xion. Just when I was beginning from the wound she caused, someone had to bring it up again. Wow.

Xion, why did you do it?

"She betrayed us," I said with a sigh at the end. Everyone seemed a bit taken aback from the sounds I made. I made a quick scan and saw that nearly all of them members had shocked expressions on their faces. Everyone except Axel and Xemnas. _Xemnas?_

"What do you mean?" Demyx asked. I watched a train slowly chug by on the levitated tracks before answering.

"She was a volunteer for the police. She volunteered for a secret operation where she would worm her way into our gang and become one of us. From there, she gets me to go to somewhere with just her. Once she did that, she was supposed to arrest me," I nearly whisper. Xion had embarrassed me, used me, and made me seem weak in front of everyone. Her loving me was becoming my downfall.

None of the other members uttered a word, there was only a silence. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

"The funny part is, I almost let her arrest me. I had gone away with her, but I found out her plan and I left her where she had taken me. She made me a fool, and I guess I really was a fool around her. She made my stomach fill with butterflies and she always brought a smile to my face no matter what. I really love her, or loved her. While we were together, I always thought that I loved her. Maybe what I thought was love, actually wasn't. I bet she made my feelings up, since she can make up her own so well. She pretended to love me, so it's only logical to say she could make me feel fake emotions, right?" I open my eyes, and sigh once again.

A heavy silence hung around the clock tower. I don't blame them. The person everyone claimed to be stone cold just spilled his whole being out into the words describing his feeling for the girl her loved. I looked around. Even the usually snappy Larxene was speechless. I smiled sourly. I stood up and brushed off my pants. I stepped back off the ledge and walked past everyone to the stairs. Without a word from either parties, I descended the stairs.

My feelings are my weakness, I learned that at a very young age. Considering that, I had kept my heart walled off from everyone else to keep myself from getting hurt. Ever since Xion and Namine came into my life, I let that wall down, little by little. With Xion, I had gotten hurt, but with Namine, I knew my emotions were safe with her and that she wouldn't use me.

People like Xion are the reason I walled off my heart. Before they came, I wasn't in touch with my own emotions. Ever since I lied to Sora about the spot on his back, I had taught myself to hold back all of my feelings and to go numb. _When I had, I felt so safe._

Could I be safe with Namine?

I didn't know**.**

**...Time Skip...**

A month passed since then. Namine and I didn't talk as much as we used to. They looked too much alike. Every so often I'd be reminded about how weak I was. I left Xion a month ago and a small part of me still aches. The Organization had gotten over the betrayal of Xion within a few days, and more and more gang fights rolled in.

Summer ended not all that long ago and school came by. I went to classes when I wanted, even then I slacked. When I didn't go to class, I hung out on the roof with Axel, who had snuck in to keep me company. My homework wasn't done by me, but my loyal gang who had all completed school. My life was as close to normal as it used to be.

Axel nudged my shoulder and I opened my eyes.

"Stop thinking Mr. Philosopher. It's time to go to the next gang fight," he said to me. I nodded and stood up. I looked around my gang who were making their way to the door. I notice one head missing.

"Wait, where's Xemnas?" I asked the gang.

"I don't know, he's probably sick or screwing some whore, you know, the usual," Larxene replied. I snort and nod, accepting that as an answer.

"Fine," I said while walking down the stair with the rest. "Where's this fight going to be?" I asked Larxene.

"In the alley near Rex's shop," she stated. I smiled, Rex's was only about five minutes away.

**...10 minutes later...**

My gang ended up arriving later than planned. The other gang was standing there in the middle of the alley. There were seven all together, each of their faces were concealed in a large hood. The tallest one, who seemed to be the leader, stood ahead of everyone else. I couldn't help but feel like I knew this guy. Like most other formally arranged fights, the two leaders had to shake hands. I walked forward slowly and cautiously. The leader stood up straight, like a stick, not even swaying a little bit when a breeze rolled in.

I reached him and tried to get a peek under his hood. It was useless, the hood had cast a large shadow over his face. I sighed and stuck out my hand. Slowly, the leader stuck out a gloved hand of his. I could hear that the gloves were made of rubber. He grasped his hand in mine and shook it roughly. I swear, I could recognize that handshake, but I couldn't exactly place it. I shrugged it off and jumped back.

As expected, Larxene and Demyx ran forward first, wanting to get the first few hits on him. The other gang members rand forward, as did mine. I chose to fight one of the members that seemed to be an even match, just to push myself a little bit beyond my limits. This person was also around my height, and they were quick.

I acted first. I sent my fist flying towards their face. The hooded person twisted their upper body to the left and avoided being hit. The person grabbed my wrist with both of their leather gloved hands and pulled down. It felt like fire shot up my arm, double the intensity when my chin slammed onto the old and unused paved road. I winced slightly. The person put a booted foot onto my back.

I reached an arm up and grabbed one of their ankles. I gripped it tightly and pulled it to the right. The person landed on top of me, and I pushed them off. The person stood up and ran back at me, a fist raised. I raised my own fist and stood in spot. When they was about to punch, I lifted my leg and aimed it at their stomach. They doubled over and clutched their stomach. I took the chance to dash towards them and shove my fist into their face. They kept their head pointing up at the sky for a moment. While they did that I could vaguely see a small pointed chin.

The person lowered their head and took their arms away from their stomach. They came at me again, raising their fist to my face. I brought my arms up to block them, but they surprised my. While I was protecting my upper body, their leg swooped out from under them and traveled under mine. I lost my balance and my arms pinwheeled for a second. I landed on my back painfully. I grimaced. The person stood over me and kneeled down beside me. They grabbed my shirt and raised their other fist. When I tried to move my arms, the person put their knees on my elbows. They brought their arm back, signalling that they were about to punch. I scrunched up my face expecting it to come any second. It never did.

I opened my eyes and smirked. The person was looking down, seeming afraid of hitting me like this. I chuckled. What a wuss. I shook my shoulders harshly and the person fell from on top of me. I stood up, trying my best to ignore the searing pain in my back and skull. I watched as the person stood up slowly. They didn't move, only stood their like a statue. I rushed forward and the person looked down, seeming to accept the inevitable. I turned to my side and shoved my shoulder into them. The person fell back a few feet and took shallow breaths. I walked over to them and was about to shove my foot into their face when I noticed something on the person I had been fighting.

Pretty pink lips were exposed. I knelt down next to the person and grasped the hem of the hood. I pulled the hood back slowly. First, I saw a pair of bright blue eyes, then a piece of black hair. I gasped and dropped the hood. It felt as if two meteors collided within my body. _Xion._ My breaths came in raggedly as I tried to calm myself. I just fought my ex girlfriend, the girl I thought I loved, the girl I thought would never hurt me. Yet, here she was, fighting in another gang, trying to defeat me.

The majority of my heart had been over Xion, but now it felt as if it was the day I found out her plans. I bit my lip hard, trying to not cry. It didn't exactly help. Silent tears streaked down my face, it felt like I couldn't catch my breath at all. Xion had betrayed me again. I unknowingly beat her up. Half of me felt like she didn't deserve it, the other half told me to buck up and finish the job. I looked at Xion's face, her nose was bleeding slightly,but I could tell that it had been bleeding a lot. Dried blood traced dark red lines along her pale skin like tattoos and stains on that perfect ivory. From her mouth there was a tiny streak of blood, it was newer, and fresh blood streaked down her chin. Her blue eyes stared at the tears streaking down my face.

"Don't cry, Roxas. You had no idea," she said softly. I shook my head.

"No, that's not all I'm crying about," I replied.

"Oh, really?" she asked. I nodded.

"Why would you do this again?" I asked, half shouting. Xion looked up at the sky. She sighed.

"I promised that I wouldn't rest until I brought you in," she said breathily.

"Why is it that you're trying harder now than before?" I asked her. She closed her eyes, then opened them and looked at me, completely serious.

"I don't care for you nearly as much as I used to," she stated bluntly. My mouth dropped open. I quickly closed it and bit my lip hard. Why was this hurting so much? We had broken up a month ago? I had gotten over her, at least mostly, but this pain is too much.

"Why?" I asked, exasperated.

"I know what you said the Organization XIII one month ago, after they asked where I was," she said to me. My eyes darted to hers.

"W-what? How?" I asked her. I felt like a blubbering baby. Xion has much power over me. She could reduce me to a sniveling pile of tears with just a few words.

"Ways," she said in an enigmatic manner. I hung my head and my shoulders shook slightly.

"Xion, do you still love me?" I asked, I had to, I just had to know. She must love me still. I straightened my back with anticipation.

"Roxas, I loved you very much and I thought I'd love you for the rest of my life. Ever since I heard what you had said, I lost all respect for you. I don't love you any more no matter how much I want to," she tells me softly. My shoulder slumps and I place my hands in between my legs to keep myself upright. She doesn't love me. A part of me still loves her, but none of her loves me. I took deep breaths. I tried my best to cut off all emotion. It's useless.

The only thing I can hear is a piercing wail. It takes a second for my to realize it's me. I tried to clamp my mouth shut, but you could still clearly hear my sobs. I was aware of a silence coming over our area, well, silence not including my tears. I heard someone walk over to me. They placed a hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I immediately know it's Axel. He laces an arm through my armpit and pulls me up off the ground. I saw him give Xion a hateful glare. I felt like a small child. Here, in the middle of a gang fight, I start blubbering like a baby and have to have someone coome over to comfort me.

Axel walked us a bit away from everyone else, he sat us in the shadows, a place virtually undetectable. I leaned heavily on Axel, thankful for having a best friend like him. Axel patted my shoulder.

"What happened?" He asked. I tried to talk, but they sounded like more sobs. Instead, I waited until I stopped crying completely, which a couple of minutes.

"She said that she doesn't love me," I said in between sniffles. Axel sighed and rubbed my arm comfortingly.

"Look, Roxas, take this as a moment to learn something. This experience will only make you stronger, and you'll learn something. Do you know what that something is?" he asked. I shook my head. Axel looked at Xion, then at me, a smile on his face. "Now you know that you were never in love. Love is really hard to describe, but it's a very strong emotion, and theirs a lot of different types of loving. I'm your best friend and you're like a brother to me, so, I love you as a brother. With Xion, you thought she was your one and only, but now you know that you only liked her a lot. When you love someone, you never want to be away from them, you'd do anything for them, you'd love them forever and under all cirumstances.

"When you're _in_ love, it's basically everything I said before, but this time, when you see them you feel like you're on top of the world, like you're flying, it's as if you could conquer the whole world if you tried, and when you did conquer the world, you'd rule it with the person you love. Most importantly, to be in love, both of you need to never stop loving and caring, it was never love if it faded away, because, true love never dies." I had stopped sniffling, and just sat their against Axel. What he said struck a cord in me. There were some times when I was with Xion that I wondered why she was the one I loved, since we hadn't gotten along well for a moment.

Axel wasn't looking at me, but he was staring at a building wall. I stood up and dragged Axel with me I gave him a giant smile and a hug.

"You really are the best friend a person could ask for," I said to him. Axel smiled and winked. I made my way to the gang leader, the one that had seemed so familiar. He was busy holding off Larxene when I stopped next to him. I was about to kick him when he reached up to his hood. The sleeves of his sweatshirt fell back slightly, and I saw a black mark on his tanned skin.

The leader grabbed the hem of his hood and pulled it back slowly. The first thing I saw was long silver hair, followed by haunting orange eyes. I gasp and my mouth falls open.

_Xemnas_

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**DUN DUN DUN. I'm sorry for the long wait! I really am!**

**Anyways, I'm sorry for the inner monologues, violence, and long Axel Talk. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to your feedback!**

**And if you don't mind answering a few questions:**

**What do you like most about my writing style?**

**What' your favorite aspect of this FF?**

**What's my weakest point in writing, and what is my strongest?**

**I'd really like to know the answers to those questions, pretty much all of them could help me improve my writing skills.**


	14. Pretty Picture

**Chapter 14**

**Pretty Picture**

Of course he betrayed us, he always was a conniving douche bag. I never really trusted him anyway, and I shouldn't be giving a shit that he's working against my gang, but I am. Why the hell can't I go one day without having someone betray me?

Suddenly (and unsurprisingly) I was pissed off all over again. The first thing I did was punch him in the face. Xemnas didn't seem very fazed, in fact he just grabbed my hand and bent my fingers back. My knees buckled and I was trying my best to hold in my screams. I had to get him to stop before he broke my fingers, I had to play dirty. I rammed my head into his balls as hard as I could.

Xemnas doubled over and let go of my hand, and so I took this moment as the chance to get payback for all of the bullshit Xemnas has caused. I don't care if he knew about Xion or not, this was all his fault!

I slammed my knee into Xemnas' face, then grabbed his head. I threw him to the ground and sat on his stomach, preparing to just knock him out right there. I went wild on his face, throwing punches left and right at him. It felt so good when the skin on my knuckles split, when countless bruises formed all along my hands. It felt so right.

"Fuck you...fuck you...fuck you...fuck you...it's all your fault!" Those were the words I kept repeating under my breath in-between the punches. Xemnas went unconscious a while ago, but I didn't stop. I never want to stop. But I've learned that all good things must come to an end.

Demyx came up to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I ignored him, and kept on going. Demyx sighed, pulling me off of Xemnas. Only then did I realize I was out of breath. I was panting hard. Slowly I slid to sit on the ground next to where Xemnas lie still. I could see his chest rise and fall, which was good and bad news.

I assumed the other people Xemnas had rounded up have all been knocked out, including Xion.

"I'm going home," I say mostly to myself than to my gang. I stood up, rubbing my eyes; no one said anything while I walked away, I was glad for that. I'd rather go be a raging douche bag on my way home than have to listen to their words of wisdom.

-**Underpasses**-

I had very nearly passed through the underpasses undisturbed when they were standing there. Riku and Hayner. Hayner looked as ugly as ever, his dirty blond hair in that same ugly style, but Riku was much different. A cast was still on the arm I broke, his nose seemed a bit more crooked than I remember, and a scar split one of his girly eyebrows in half.

I walked past them when I Riku spun me around and smashed his fist into my nose.

"Hello to you too, Fuck Face," I said, trying to contain the anger Riku sparked all over again. Riku punched me once in the stomach. I didn't even bother to punch back, he didn't deserve the time of day.

"You're one for greetings aren't you?" I asked, my voice dripping with the sickly sweet sarcasm I had become so fond of over the years. Riku looked into my eyes, his glare already set.

"Why the hell aren't you punching back? One of your "people" is breaking the rules, don't you want to fix that?" I laughed, well, it was more of a cackle.

"If you really insist, the King will put his people back into place," I said through a smile. I grabbed Riku's shoulders, using that as leverage to get my one of my feet up onto his chest. I shoved him as best I could from that awkward position. He fell to the ground with thud. I turned around, walking away from the pathetic scene behind me.

-**At home**-

Mom didn't ask too many questions when I walked in, all battered and bruised. A fast learner she is. I just washed myself up and taped some gauze onto my knuckles, as I've done so many times before. I lied on my bed, something I don't do much anymore.

My thoughts went to Xion. I hate her. I don't want to, but I do. I hate her with all of my being. She made me weak and she was the beginning of my downfall.

Then there's Xemnas. He was never to be trusted. He always had a grudge against me ever since I replaced him as leader. I had always passed off his childish glares as a one sided rivalry that would pass with time. I never thought that he would try to turn me in, if he knew about Xion, that is.

There was a knock on my door, interrupting my thoughts.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"It's Namine," the person replied. Why would she be here? Last time I really spoke to her I pissed her off by saying her face was ugly.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, the first thing I saw was Namine's blonde hair all around her face. She slipped into my room and closed the door behind her.

"Hi," she said, trailing off a bit. I gave her a slight nod.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, sitting up. She walked a bit closer, shurgging.

"Axel said that you left in a hurry," she replied. I scoffed. Damn that Axel.

"Yeah, so what if I did?" I replied.

"He said you were pretty upset, and so, I wanted to cheer you up, me being one of your best friends and having that be a best friend thing to do," she said quickly. I rose an eyebrow.

"Go on."

Namine took her hands from behind her back and she was holding a piece of paper. It had a drawing on it, a pretty simple one too. It was a pencil drawing, and it was just a big old building. I got up and grabbed the paper from her hands.

Upon closer inspection I saw that the building was none other than the clock tower. I saw too figures under the clock tower, one looked like me, just standing there, looking at the ground. Not far behind me looked like Namine, though I didn't trust myself to be sure.

"It's me and you. I'm running after you. I'm sorry for how cramped and suckish it is, I whipped it up in a hurry," she said, shaking her head slightly. I smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks, Namine. No one really ever bothered to make something for me, especially a drawing like this one," I said. I admit, I was being surprisingly nice to her, but she just did something unbelievably kind and uncalled for. She at least deserves me to not be an ass.

Slowly she hugged me back.

"It's the least I could do," she replied. I detached myself and studied the drawing.

"Can you at least tell me why you're running after me?" I asked. I know that some artists like to put deeper meaning into their drawings. Whether or not Namine was one of those, I have no idea.

"Well, I guess it's because I feel like I'm running after you in everything that I do," she replied simply.

"Why would you be feeling that?"

"Because I just want to know _you._ You tell me everything but you haven't told me the real you," she said. And with that I lost the need to be nice.

"The real me isn't for anyone but _me _to know. You don't have much business in that, so I suggest you stop talking about it," I managed to say that without sounding like too much of a raging douche. Namine gave an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, I won't talk about it again. Just know that if you ever want to talk, I'll be here," she said.

"I'll keep it in mind," I reply without intending to even give it a second thought.

Namine stayed for a while longer, not too long. We laughed and told joked I heard many times before. I took special care to not stray onto the topic of Xion or Xemnas, not really in the mood to become an asshole in front of Namine.

"I'll be going now, and yes, I forgive you for all of your raging asshole moments," she said without my having to half apologize half insult. Namine started walking towards the door, I made a sudden decision, something I've been doing often as of late.

I grabbed Namine by her elbow and turned her around to face me. I brought her face close to mine, slowly, oh-so-slowly pulling her close. My forehead was against hers and she was looking me in the eyes in a heavy lidded fashion. I closed the gap between us, finally giving into the feelings I've been trying to bury for months, trying to lie about so I wouldn't have to get hurt again.

Namine pulled back after a moment, a small smile gracing her lips.

"I've been waiting for another one," she teased. I shrugged.

"Today was the day I stopped lying to myself." I gave a small head shake like it was nothing.

"So, I'll be going now," Namine awkwardly stated.

"Have fun imagining my hot body all night," I replied. Namine laughed, letting go of my shoulders, giving me a coy smile. She walked out of my room and out of my house. I waltzed to my bed and collapsed onto it.

I could always leave it to Namine to bring out this unpredictable part of me. She made me think about all of the things that hurt, the "real me" as she kindly put it.

The real me doesn't have any business being known, no business being there, really. I don't know why I have this inner self that whines and cries all the time about all of the people betraying me. The little part of me that wants people to like me, to stop being targeted by the cops, the part of me that just wants to be normal.

All I have to say to real me is, "Fuck you."

-**The Next Day**-

I woke up at noon, a rather common occurence. It was a Wednesday but I already slept in and I'm not in the mood to deal with the pretentious teachers anyway. I crawled out from my bed and padded over to my door, slipping on my shoes. I changed my shirt but kept on the pair of jeans I usually slept in. Of course, I couldn't leave without my signature black sweatshirt.

I walked down the stairs, spotting my parents talking near the kitchen table. My mom turns a worried gaze to me.

"You should really go to school more often you know," she said in an obvious disapproving tone. I shrugged, walking past the two of them without as much of a second glance. She scoffed and I could just see her shaking her head, my dad with a comforting hand on top of hers.

"Why should we keep paying for you to go to school if you never go?" she mused to herself. I turned back to look at them to see everything I had envisioned was in fact true.

"How about you stop paying? I wouldn't give a shit," I said before turning around and opening the door. I walked out just as I heard my dad start a fatherly rant. I rolled my eyes. Fucking parents, they're pretty useless most of the time.

I walked down the street, not having a destination in mind. Wandering was fun yet boring at the same time. I didn't have to listen to my nagging parents (an obvious plus to this situation) but I have no one to boss around (the one pitfall). I found myself in tram common, standing right in front of the general store. I contemplated going inside, but didn't in the end.

The next place I ended up was on the clock tower. I was alone, which was good. I didn't expect my gang to be there this early. I sat down on the spot I had grown plenty used to these past 3 years. I dug into my pocket and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I light up a cigarette and take a large breath in. I puff it out, watching as the smoke slowly disperses.

Imagine if I come down with cancer and die just like Sora did. Just fucking imagine. How ironic that would be. I wouldn't be all too upset if I died right now, though I wouldn't want to die. What a contradiction! I chuckle at the silly thought and shake my head. Roxas Strife thinking about his death, a rather silly thought for me. My death won't be coming for a long time, that much I know.

I heard footsteps on the single staircase leading up to this spot. I turn and I see Axel staring at me, a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here. A stray Roxas," he said while chuckling.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Don't you do anything else with your day?" I asked him, turning away to look at the train tracks. Axel sat next to me and produced a box of sea salt ice cream. He took one out and started noisily eating it.

"I'm just doing what I do on most days," he said. "Want one?" he inquired, pointing at the box between us. I grunted in distaste.

"I stopped eating those shit sticks three years ago." Axel shook his head.

"Let me guess, you stopped eating them because Sora liked them so much? It makes you guilty just seeing them, doesn't it?" I snapped my head to Axel, giving him a glare intended to make him cringe. Axel didn't even flinch.

"Don't you dare bring him up," I snarled at him. Axel let out a bored breath.

"Whatever, Roxas. Forget I said anything," he said. I let out another puff of smoke, wanting to mask the smell of that sickly sweet ice cream that Sora loved so much. I admit to having liked them too, until Sora began obsessing with Paopu fruit after he went on a school trip to Destiny Islands. He never stopped talking about them, about how tangy they were and how much he liked them. I've only had them once and they never really did it for me, but I somehow managed loved them just like Sora did anyway.

I stayed there until the schools let out. I didn't want to be there once the trains came rolling around, bringing the students back. I didn't want anything else to piss me off.

* * *

**Yay, Don't Mess with the Rules is back! So, while I post this I'm going to be going back and checking other chapters for major, major mistakes. Like the one in chapter one I never bothered to fix, or where I kept spelling Adidas as Adias (that one is freakishly embarassing).**

**This story is nearing an end. Don't worry about the lack of mushy gushy RokuNami more than a few people enjoy, it's coming in a few chapters. As for the projected length of this story, I'd say about 20 or so chapters. I have quite the ending planned for you all, whether or not you will enjoy it is another question.**

**Another boring chapter, not much happening. More insight on the person Roxas used to be with Sora, what Sora was to him (you sort of have to pick at some of the hints I gave in the last few paragraphs...) Slight RokuNami, not much.**


	15. Normal

Yes, I'm back. Me. I didn't originally plan on updating anything ever again. Honestly, I didn't. I fell out of love with fanfiction I guess you could say. But now I've gotten requests to continue with my story, so I will. I'll finish Don't Mess With the Rules and Threats, those will be done and over with within time.

I'm sorry it took so long to make this decision, I had always just lacked the inspiration to continue, but now I shall.

Damn that Namine. She had spent just enough time whining and begging me that I had to give in, just to get her to shut up about it. I made it clear that this was just a one-time deal, I go today and then it's all over, it never happens again.

School. How am I supposed to do well there? I haven't gone to school in a year, and even then I didn't even pay attention to all of what they taught us. My school had taken the cue at the beginning of this year and had kept me in the same grade I was in the year previous. That was smart enough.

My thoughts are interrupted when the lights in my room flick on. I flit my eyes to the side and see my mother standing at the door.

"Were you staring at the ceiling?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

"For how long?" she asked again.

"A while," I reply.

Tifa gives me a strange look. She backs out of my room and begins to close the door to my room. She ducks her head back in to quickly say, "Get dressed and come and eat breakfast, the bus is coming in 20 minutes."

The door closes completely and I make no move to get out of bed. I don't want to wake up, not at all. It's 6 AM, I'm tired, I don't want to go. I somehow force myself to roll out of my bed and onto an awkward fetus position on the floor. I crane my neck upwards to stare at the clock. I wasted about 10 minutes just getting out of bed. How wonderful.

I stand up and get dressed, just throwing on anything I found on the floor. It's not like it mattered how I looked today, this is the last time I'm going to school. After today I'm going to be going back to my gang, hanging out on the clock tower, trying to track down Xemnas again (He had slipped away without our notice).

I walked downstairs, smelling something strangely delicious. I couldn't tell if it was waffles or pancakes, whichever it may be, it smelled great. Downstairs in the middle of the kitchen table was a steaming plate of waffles topped with syrup.

My level of surprise was off the chart. Tifa hadn't bothered to make me breakfast in years, and by 'come and get your breakfast' I thought I was going to make myself a bowl of cereal. I sat down at my seat and began eating.

I ate fast, shoving it all down. It was hot and the pancakes were fluffy. The syrup trickled down my throat, tasting a sickly sweet. All too quickly the pancakes were gone and I found myself wishing that I had savored the meal more than I actually had.

Cloud, who had been sitting next to me, elbowed my lightly and gestured his head towards Tifa. I took the cue and mumbled a thank you. She smiled at me.

"You should be going now, Roxas. The bus is going to be here any moment now. I nodded and made my way towards the door. I slipped on my shoes and grabbed the backpack at the front door. It was already packed, and I'm guessing my mother had done it for me, knowing that I wouldn't bother.

I went outside to walk towards the bus stop where the bus would be arriving any minute now, but I was interrupted. My mother ran outside and gave me a hug. I was taken off guard and for a moment didn't even react. I brought up one hand to pat her on the back. I had no idea what was happening.

"Thank you so much, Roxas. Thank you," she whispered into my ear. Thank you for what? For this normalcy that won't last past today? I bite my tongue to keep a sassy response back. Tifa pulled back leaving a faint memory of her floral scent. She smiles softly at me and pushes back my hair. I smile. It wasn't fake, not forced at all. True happiness has bubbled through me. Tifa turns around and walks back into our house.

Well. That was quite the experience.

…..Later That Day…...

I still hate school. I barely got even two seconds to focus on Xemnas and Xion before one of the imbeciles I have to call classmates asks me questions or better yet, the teacher does. I didn't know most of the answers, which isn't that much of a bother.

In school I had no friends nor did I want to make any. Watch the teachers said all during class was barely interesting and nothing caught my attention. Finally classes dismissed for lunch and if I recall correctly, Namine said we had lunch at the same time. Tifa had taken the liberty of packing me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and for that I was grateful. I would rather die than eat the slop this school dares to call taco salad.

The lunchroom is loud and bursting at the seams. It only takes a few moments to spot Namine's platinum blond hair among the throng of teenagers walking into the lunchroom. I walk over to her and she smiles at me.

"I'm glad to see that you stuck to your word," she said.

"I only did it so you would stop bothering me about it," I reply. Namine laughs and grabs my arm, steering me towards a table. She shoves me down in a seat and sits next to me. She opens her own paper back and takes out a tuna fish sandwich.

"What is he doing here?" A shrill voice screeches from behind me. Both Namine and I turn to see Kairi fuming. She points at me her cheeks flare up to be the color of her hair.

"Because I like him," Namine replies curtly.

"No one else does! Everyone hates him Namine!" Kairi was screaming at the top of her lungs. Others began to notice now.

"Oh. Well, that's too bad," Namine says indifferently. I chuckled slightly. Kairi stomped her foot, which I had always found to be a cliché action, but as it turns out, Kairi indulges in the cliché.

"Namine, why are you being so difficult? Would you rather be friends with that fucking douchebag or me? And don't think I'm kidding Namine, it's me or him! I won't stand to be friends with someone that likes a fucking delinquent!" Kairi is pretty over the top now, pulling cliché out left and right. The point gets across though. I look at Namine, who I can tell is thinking of a response. Namine looks at me quickly, then turns her gaze back to Kairi.

"I think I'm going to choose the one who I actually care about," she said, grabbing my hand. Namine smiles at me. "Roxas I think you're right, school sucks. How about we ditch and go somewhere better?"

Together we run out of the school ignoring Kairi's stinging words.

…..

I don't even know where we went. We ran all over town, not saying anything just feeling each other's palms as we went. We stopped at a little shop in Tram Common. I used what little pocket money I had to buy her sweets.

After exploring the area further we found a small hole in a wall leading into the woods. The hole had been well hidden, I had nearly missed it. Namine and I strolled through the woods, holding hands, enjoying a quiet time together.

Namine's vanilla scent mixed well with the pine of the woods and the sugary smell of the candy I had bought her. Her long blond hair looked beautiful today, if I may say so. It had been done in a braid that was plopped over her shoulder.

Namine looked up at me and smiled, taking the lollipop from her mouth. She moved closer and placed our intertwined hands across my waist. She leaned her head against my shoulder , her silky hair tickling my neck.

I was surprised by how normal this all felt. Namine and I, whom I had made my girlfriend not so recently, walking through the woods as a couple. I felt no pressure to act like a tough guy and intimidate everyone who saw me. I was a real person right now, with actual emotions and a strange sense of peace.

I liked it. I loved this feeling of normal. But I knew that it couldn't last forever. I can only feel this way once I get Xemnas and Xion out of the picture, how I do that I don't know. But I know that I can't let down this front until they're gone completely from my life. And they'll never be gone unless I've been arrested.

How complicated.

Namine abruptly stopped talking and points ahead. We had come across a rusty iron wrought fence that stood tall in front of a looming mansion.

"Let's go inside!" she exclaims. I nodded and took to opening the fence. It had been locked and took a lot of power to open. Finally with enough tugs the lock fell and the gates swung open.

On the inside, the mansion was a creepy quiet. In every corner was a large cobweb. Parts of the house had fallen apart and littered the floor. Namine detached herself from my arm and ran up the large staircase. Her sudden movements had turned up dust, which bothered my nose and caused me to sneeze.

I chase after her, following her into a room. The room is made purely of white. The walls, floors, curtains, even the barren table standing alone in the middle of the room. All of it a bright white that literally hurt my eyes.

Namine turns around to face me and says, "This room sure is lovely. Kinda hurts though…."she said, trailing off. She walks to the wall and slides down to sit on the floor. I sit next to her. Sitting by her reminds me of the eventful lunch break we had in school. A classic old western shoot out, minus the guns and cool boots.

"Why did you choose me over Kairi anyway? She's your best friend," I said out of the blue.

"Well I can live without Kairi, but I don't think I can live without you," she said. I raise my eyebrow. That was an unexpected answer. I figured she would say something like, I was funnier than she was. Nothing like that, not at all.

"Wow." That was all I managed to say. Namine laughed.

"You're probably bad for my health, you and all your dangerous shenanigans," she said. I nod.

"We'll both probably end up dead within the month. Or myself at least, I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"You're being really sappy, you know that right?" She grabbed my hand and smiled at me.

"I thought girls liked sappy stuff," I replied.

"We do," she said back to me.

Before I got the chance to say something back to her, the front door of the mansion open and closed. I stand up quickly and leave the room, telling Namine to stay put. Of course Namine didn't listen to my well-intended advice and followed me. I peeked out from the wall corner and saw two people walking into the mansion.

Thankfully they weren't moving towards the staircase, where Namine and I had been. On the bad side of it all, I knew who those people were. They were the people who had been made the last few weeks worse than hell. Xion and Xemnas.

This is definitely going to be an interesting day.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I'll try and update once a week, it depends on my soccer schedule. Well, this was a mainly filler chapter, showing the growth of their relationship. I utilized the last little tid bit to set up an interesting starting point for the next chapter.

If you have any questions about anything feel free to PM me or ask in a review.


	16. Softie

Sorry for taking long to update, it was a mix of a hurricane, sports, and homework.

* * *

...

..

...

Why were Xion and Xemnas here, what would they possibly need to do here? I watch them retreat into a room down on the bottom floor, shutting the door behind them. Instinctively I move to follow, but I feltl a small hand on my shoulder. I looked back at Namine and rose an eyebrow.

"You shouldn't start with them right now," she said in a light whisper. I scowled at her and look away.

"Why not?" I whispered harshly back at her.

"What do you think you'd do? Beat them up again?" she asked me. I let out a frustrated breath that I never meant to hold.

"What would be wrong with that?" I replied quickly. Namine sighed.

"You can't solve everything with fighting Roxas." She looked at me, her eyes pleading for me to understand. I don't know if I do.

"What am I supposed to do then? Go down and have a nice little chat over tea? Casually turn them in to the police? No I can't Namine, they _work_ for the police!" I unintentionally exclaimed the last sentence. Namine dug her fingers into my arms and I certainly understood the message.

"No, not that. You should tell your 'gang' then you guys should talk about what to do. Maybe you could work something out with Xion and Xemnas, and I mean with words, not with fighting. Fighting really won't help you at all," she said to me. I rolled my eyes. Without fighting, how am I supposed to sort out anything with Xemnas and Xion? They always instigate the fights, they're always giving us the perfect reason to beat them to a pulp. The idea of not using our fists is just ludicrous.

"Roxas," she continued, "I really hate it when you fight people. I get scared just thinking about what would happen if you got seriously hurt, what would happen to you if you didn't win." She finished and waited for my reply. When I don't answer she kept talking. "I know you probably won't listen to me today Roxas, but I'm begging you, don't fight here while I'm with you. I don't want to see you get hurt, not one bit. If you were knocked out cold and it was just me left there with them, do you really think they'd just leave me alone, let me leave without even touching me? I know Xion sure wouldn't."

Before I could even blink the anger of seeing Xion and Xemnas dissipated. If Namine were ever to be hurt I don't know whether I'd break their backs or smash in their skulls first. As angry as that sounds, that's not what I'm feeling. Protective. For one of the first times in my life, I'm feeling ready to fight tooth and nail to protect what I find to be important.

I looked back at Namine and slowly took her hand. I leaned in closer to whisper, "Let's leave. Quietly." The words that left my mouth were barely above the buzzing of tired flies, but she heard me. Namine smiled at me and brushed her lips across my cheek.

Together we left.

...

After bringing Namine home I decided to take the long way home. It was beginning to get dark already and I figured that my parents wouldn't care, they never did. I walk slowly, not caring one bit as the dim evening turned into a dark night. All too late I remember what I had missed. Organization XIII's meeting at the clock tower. I naturally get angry at myself, I had missed an important meeting where I could have brought up what I saw at the old mansion with Namine. Hopefully they didn't miss me too much.

Finally in the muck of all my thoughts I reached my house. I walked in my house trying to be quiet, as to not alert my parents that I was extremely late. I was wrong. Before I could do anything I was pushed against a wall by a pair of large hands. I realized that it was Cloud- my dad. I was surprised, this was nothing like Cloud to do, he got angry at times, but he never burst out of his calm facade in such a way.

I squirmed to relieve myself of Cloud's tight grip but I can't manage. He throttled me, glaring me down. My head knocks painfully against the wall in all of jostling. Tifa came to Cloud and half-heartedly tried to tug his hands off of me. In Tifa's hand I see a bag of pot that I had no idea I had kept, I thought I had sold it ages ago to get some money for Namine.

"Why do you have drugs in your room? Do you know how disappointed we are? Do you even understand?" Cloud yelled in my faced. I opened my mouth to explain that I had no intention of using it, Namine doesn't want me to use it anymore. Before I had the chance to utter a syllable Cloud struck my face with his open palm. My head swung to the left, my mouth was agape and my cheek stung.

All three of us were surprised at what just happened. Cloud let me go and I shoved past him and Tifa, caressing my cheek. I walked into my room slamming the door shut in a childish manner. I sat on my bed trying hard to not make a sound. I listened through the floors as Tifa and Cloud argued about what happened.

"How could you?" "I didn't mean to!" "He's our son!" "But the drugs," "Punish him," "Apologize to him," "Or you can leave!"

Those were the only snippets I could catch of their heated argument. I layed back down on my bed, taking in what just happened. My own father hit me. My mother is stick up for me. She actually cares about me. She's arguing about me. She cares.

It's a strange feeling. My parents haven't cared about anything since Sora passed. They seemed suddenly brought to life ever since this morning when I decided to go to school (which I'm not doing again). I sensed that my parents have a child like hope that I'll suddenly return to normal and forget all of this fighting and drugs (the drugs are starting to die down). It can't happen, I know it can't. To even have a thought that I could ever be normal again is ridiculous.

...

It's sunset of the next day. I sat on the edge of the clock tower, waiting for the others to arrive. I was surprised to see that I had arrived before Axel, he usually spends all day up here smoking and eating Sea Salt Ice Cream popsicles. The unfortunate events at my house last night left an unsightly red mark on my cheek. I touched it gingerly, trying not to agitate the tender skin.

Someone sat down beside me and I looked over. I saw Axel there. He gave me a smile and offered me a popsicle. I flicked it out of his hand and onto the pavement below us. Axel noticed something strange and grabed my chin. He jerked my head to the side and examined my right cheek more closely. I frowned already anticipating the onslaught of questions.

"What the hell happened Roxas, are you okay? Did you get into a fight or something?" I shook my head, avoiding his gaze. "Then what happened?" he asked me.

"It was nothing," I replied. He scoffed and shook his head.

"How stupid do you think I am? Now tell me what happened!" I shook my head. I don't know why I did, I wanted to tell Axel what happened, he was my best friend, but I just couldn't bring myself to start talking. I knew that if I even opened my mouth I would start a long spiel about how much of a dick Cloud was, which was the opposite. Cloud just messed up a little bit, he didn't mean to do anything.

Thankfully, before Axel could question me again, the rest of my gang comes up the stairs in small clumps. They all laughed loudly and gossiped about which prostitute screwed which cop in whatever alley. I would've normally been interested in the gossip, I find some strange satisfaction in keeping up with the talk of the town. All I was able to even think about was Xion and Xemnas.

Larxen walked up to me, knocking me upside the head.

"Hey," she said in a high pitched voice that grated on my ears more than usual, "where were you yesterday. We really missed you up here," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"I was with Namine," I replied. Larxene rolled her eyes and groaned. She placed her hands on her hips, giving me a condescending look.

"Aren't you always? You always ditch us to go suck face with that blondie." Larxene managed to make her words sound sweet, like a coo from a baby.

"I saw Xemnas and Xion." Larxene's mouth fell open, as did everyone else's.

"You _what?!_" she exclaimed. Larxene grabbed my shoulders, gripping them tightly. I nodded.

"In the old mansion. I didn't confront them, I figured that you would want to be with me for that," I said. Axel nodded.

"Good call, I really want to be there when we smash their faces in to the ground," Axel said with a disturbing undertone of excitement. I nodded, but then remembered what Namine had said to me yesterday.

"I want to hurt them as badly as you do," I stammer out the rest of the sentence quickly, "but what if fighting isn't the answer?" Axel looked at me incredulously. He leaned closer, his eyes challenging me to change what I had said. I don't accept.

"_What_ did you just say?" he asked, barely managing to say the words with his teeth clenched.

"Fighting them won't do anything, we should work something out with them," I said, gaining confidence.

"How would that even work though? I mean, they can just go back on the deal," Demyx said. I looked at him, half surprised at his insight and half proud since I knew he had it in him. I shrugged.

"If they even try to go back on their words we can beat them as hard as we can manage. Let's just try something different first," I said. Larxene crossed her arms and glared at me.

"She's really made you soft hasn't she? If you never even met Namine then Xemnas and Xion would be dead already." Larxene lifted her chin slightly, looking down at me. "I don't really know if I want to be lead by someone who doesn't even have it in them to fight anymore." I heard mumbles of agreement from all through out the clock tower. Axel even slightly nodded his head, just moving it by the smallest of a fraction that you wouldn't even notice unless you had been watching closely.

"I mean you're a terrible leader anyway. You barely come to the meetings anymore, and when you do you don't even contribute. You're always just sitting there thinking, thinking about her. Where the hell did that douche bag I know and appreciate go? Who the hell is this soft teenager we've been left with? I don't know," she had continued.

My breath hitched in my throat. They really think I'm soft. They want me gone. I felt sick to my stomach, not to mention I was simmering. So near a boil that even the finest flame could send me into overdrive. My cheeks flushed and my hands became fists. These people were the only ones I had for years, the only ones who kept me from going completely over edge (they actually did a shitty job, but that's not the point). I'm their leader and in some cases, their friend. But now I'm suddenly a stranger to them because I've found someone I actually care about? I can't love somebody and at the same time love my gang. It's impossible.

I stood up and looked Larxene in the eyes.

"Tell me that you really want me gone," I said to her. I was inviting her to dance in hell with me, and I had a feeling that she would accept. Her eyebrow twitched, her pale pink lips curving into a mischevious smirk.

"I want you to leave and never come back." She's done it. She's accepted. She's become the fire that's going to bring me beyond a simmer, past a boil, into god knows what.

Before I even thought of what I should do, I punched Larxene square in the jaw. She took some steps back but she did not fall. She held her jaw, smiling at me. I knew she was really feeling alive right now. She swung at me, I moved. I swung at her, she moved. We danced like this for what seems like hours turned into days into weeks into months into years. Our punches met their marks few and far between, but they did the job.

In the end we ended up on the ground wrestling each other. We bent fingers and wrists, trying to break each other. We rolled along the ground in an endless struggle were a victor seemed to be nothing but a fantastical idea. That fantastical idea soon became a reality in which I was on the short end of the stick. Larxene had managed to overpower me and get me into an uncomfortable position. She bent my wrist back slowly until there was a cracking noise.

I stop moving and move to clutch my wrist. The pain is new to me, I've never been hurt like this before. Before I could nurture my wrist, Larxene grabed my other arm in her hand and shook her head at me. She grabed my hurt arm and dropped it on the ground. I can't help but cry out in agony. Larxene kept a knee bent on the hurt arm.

"I knew you were soft. You lost to me, and you've never lost to anyone before. Now you can leave, I don't expect you to come back either. We need full time members, not part-time cry babies." Larxene stood up and looked at me.

I got up slowly and tried my best to ignore the dull throbbing in my wrist. I press the wrist to my chest and walk out of the roof as fast as I can. I broke two things today; my wrist and my pride.

...

I somehow end up lying face down in Namine's driveway. I was woken up by her prodding my leg. When I looked up at her she gasped. Namine slowly helped me up an inside her house. She placed ice on my wrist and kept her fingers just lightly brushing mine.

"What the hell happened Roxas?" I was groggy and didn't register her question at first, but I manage to slowly give a brief overview of what happened on the clock tower. Namine sighs and looks down.

"I'm sorry Roxas. They were like your family and I kind of ruined it for you," she said while staring at the white tiled floor. I shook my head.

"It's not your fault and I'm not mad at you for what happened. I've been having more fun with you than with them," I said to her. She smiled a little but didn't look up. My wrist throbbed and I felt it throughout my whole body. Namine looked up at me then back down to my wrist.

"You should go and get that checked out, Roxas," she said. I shook my head.

"I was afraid to go they might tell the police I'm there," I replied. Namine sighed and shook her head.

"Roxas I'd rather you at least get it taken care of than just sit here in pain!" I shrugged. I'd rather sit in pain than possibly get reprimanded by the police.

...

I'm at the hospital. At least I think it's a hospital. A clinic or a just a doctors office? They're all the same to me. Namine had nagged and nagged until my ears bled then dragged me to the hospital until all of my nails had fallen off bloody. I can't believe I actually let her. The walls are a light cream color that had been mixed with some green to give it some pizzazz. The floors are a blinding white and the smell reminds me of bleach. I sat in the waiting room next to Namine. I was bored out of my mind but she was occupied with the stupid girly magazines they kept on the table.

It seemed like forever until my name was finally called and I'm brought into a small room. X-rays were taken and a bright blue cast was put on. I thought the color was ugly but when Namine saw it she squealed. She dragged on and on about how the color matched my eyes and complemented my hair and went with my shirt. If it had been anyone else that was babbling I would have told them to just shut up, but with Namine it's different.

She may talk about stuff I have no interest in but I still like to hear her talk. I like the way her voice rises and falls and how she takes in quick breaths where sentences are supposed to end. She speaks in one long run on sentence and it's always about nothing that even matters. She goes from loud to quiet within seconds, from sarcastic to serious. The way Namine talks is always interesting, keeps me on my toes. Her soft voice in general just makes me happy.

As bad as it sounds, I sometimes just tune out her words to just listen to her voice. This happened to be one of those times. That would really explain why I didn't even notice when she asked, "Why is your gang going to the old mansion?"

* * *

Aw little Roxas got hurt :(

The last bit was super unimportant, I just needed a way to casually slide into the starter for the next chapter (and for Roxas to be a mushy gushy love bird).

Thanks for reading loves! If you find any mistakes either detail wise or grammar wise please tell me :)

Also thanks to _**SLOGANLOGAN** _for suggesting I have Cloud kinda beat on Roxas a little bit, it really gave me an opportunity to show some development in Cloud (also I may or may not have some emotional things in one of the following chapters in which I delve more into Cloud and Tifa's back story and Sora's death).**  
**

_** P.S. I won't be updating on Saturday as I'm with a friend that day. I'll try for Sunday or Monday. The week after that will definitely update on Saturday.**_


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